


Origins: The Suicide Sirens (3)

by quaviondre



Series: Origins [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Supernatural
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blood and Violence, Blow Jobs, Bottom Castiel (Supernatural), Bottom Castiel/Top Dean Winchester, Bottom Dean Winchester, Bottom Sam, Bottom Sam Winchester, Castiel is Joker, Castiel is Protective of Dean Winchester, Castiel is the Joker, Child Abuse, Crossover, Dark Fantasy, Dean Winchester is Protective of Castiel, Dean is Harley Quinn, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Violence, F/M, First Time Blow Jobs, First Time Bottoming, Gay Sex, Hand Jobs, M/M, Masturbation, Past Abuse, Rimming, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Top Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:07:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 67,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27945773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quaviondre/pseuds/quaviondre
Summary: Harley and the Joker have been the villainous power couple of Gotham for the past four years now. Like every psychopathic abusive relationship though, they go through highs and lows. When Joker breaks a promise he made to Harley, he puts their relationship to the ultimate test. With Harley and the gang kidnapped by Amanda Waller and the big fight between Joker and Harley so fresh in both their minds, will Joker finally tell Harley the truth about how he feels? Can Harley ever forgive his puddin’ for breaking his heart? Or will this broken promise be the end of both their relationship…and their lives?
Relationships: Adam Milligan & Dean Winchester, Castiel & Dean Winchester, Castiel Joker/Dean Harley, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Joker (DCU)/Dean Winchester, Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel, Lucifer/Sam Winchester
Series: Origins [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046125
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Readers, 
> 
> When I started this Fanfic, I made one promise to myself, and that promise was that I would never leave my readers with unanswered questions or a cliffhanger. As a writer I feel it is my obligation to write a conclusion to the story, or at the very least, give you closure. And honey, I always keep my promises. So here it is guys, the final installment of Origins which ends this fantastic journey you've all taken with me. I'm so happy with how it all turned out and I can't wait for you guys to read what's to come. So come along, join me one last time as we go along the thrilling ride of the one, the only, the infamous, Harley Quinn.
> 
> Sidebar, if you're wondering: Missouri Moseley is Amanda Waller, Kevin Tran is Rick Flag, Adam Milligan is Braeden Keen, Nick/Lucifer is Swamp Thing, Gabriel is Ra's Al Ghul, Crowley is KillerCroc

**3 Years Later**

**_Now_ **

_Stop bleeding_ , that's the only thought that goes through my head as I walk down this dirt path towards Ivy's home. I was clutching my stomach, the wound stinging as I applied pressure, my hands tacky with the mix of old blood and fresh blood still spilling from my wound.

I was trying to stay focused, but my vision was getting fuzzy, there was no doubt now...I was dying. I had to get to him, I had to get to Ivy, he was the only one who I wanted to see, the only one who I wanted to talk to right now. I loved Mr. J. I loved him with everything I had, but betraying me like this?

Him trying to kill me was nothing new, I'd grown accustomed to that, but this...what he did...that was something I couldn't forgive. It was the one thing, the one thing I asked him never to do, and he did it. He knew it and he still did it.

It's why my blood alone isn't the only blood coating the white shorts and t-shirt I'm wearing, the once pure white now stained a deep red. I just wanted him to understand, I just wanted him to see how much he hurt me, but I think this time...things changed.

I'm not his anymore, not after that. And he's no longer mine, he may not have released me, but after what he'd done...I released myself. I gave him my whole body, my spirit, my soul, the very essence of who I was.

I gave up everything for him, and this--this is how he repays me. The rage inside my heart spiked, causing me to shudder slightly, and I lost my footing for a second.

Right now my only focus should be trying to stay alive, but even with the bruises, even with the cuts, the open wound, and the dislocated arm, all that could go through my head was rage and this strange panging feeling in my soul.

It'd be a while since I'd felt something like this, not since my father first told me that he hated me, or when I saw the pain in Ivy's eyes when I left him to go to college...it was heartbreak.

Turns out no matter how insane you become, no matter how many people you kill and torture, no matter how much you try and destroy that weakness inside you...it's still ever-present.

Because regardless of how hard I tried to darken my soul, no matter how much the chemicals changed parts of my DNA, I was still by all intents and purposes, human. The tears were threatening to fall, they were trying to breach my tear ducts, but I forced my hate for Joker and the other one to fuel my strength.

If I was going to die, I wasn't going to die crying for him, I was going to die hating him. But I wasn't ready to die yet, I was trying my hardest to hold on as long as I could, I needed to see him one last time before I left this world.

After everything that has happened with Joker and I, and with the other person, the one I couldn't think about right now, Sam was the last person left on this Earth that I felt I could trust. He was my heart, through it all he stuck with me.

Sure I had my other friends, but Sam was my brother, my lover, and my oldest friend, if I was going to die anywhere, I wanted to die in his arms. I had to.

I approached the small house covered in vines and trees, a forest-like environment and I smiled slightly. I was almost there, just a few more feet, just a few more and I'd be with him. I saw his lights on and his doorway was unobscured, he was home.

I was nearing his yard when I tripped on one of the branches that had purposefully lifted itself of its own accord. I'd fallen to the ground and some of the blood from my shirt fell onto the grass. Immediately the grounds were shaking as the vines started to shoot from the grounds, like white blood cells to a disease, attacking the foreign threat.

The Green was always fiercely protective of Ivy, that much I always knew, which is why he'd made prick my finger on one of his vines at his house so they could recognize me when I came. But the blood that spilled onto the ground may have been mine, but there was another person's blood present too, and one belonging to Mr. J, who Ivy hated with a fiery passion.

He was not welcome on his land and the plants immediately attacked me as if I were him, not being able to distinguish the scents of mine, his, and the other person. They immediately wrapped themselves around my arms and snatched me backward toward the ground. They started to wrap around me tightly, a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of me. The vines wrapped on my wound and I cried.

"Ivy..." my voice cracked out, still hoarse from all the screaming and yelling I'd done earlier. I felt myself fading and with the vines slowly tightening around me, I knew it wasn't going to be long before I was dead.   
_________________________________________

"Oh fuck, right there, right there!" Ivy screams out, the young dirty blonde beneath him hitting his prostate over and over again, trying and succeeding in sending Ivy over the edge.

"Say my name Sam, say my name," Swamp Thing screamed, barely able to maintain his humanoid form, his swamp-like visage breaking through, unable to withstand the heightened arousal that Ivy was provoking from him.

"Nick, fuck! Nick fuck me, please! Make me cum, Nick! Make me cum, please, fuck!" Ivy screamed out louder, his eyes clouding over black as the vines start to climb onto the bed near Swamp Thing, wrapping around them both as Ivy rides Nick harder, squeezing his hole like a vice around Swamp Thing's hard dick.

"I'm almost there Ivy, cum with me please, I can't take it, you're too good, you're too beautiful, please cum with me!" Swamp Thing yells back.

He feels the heat of his arousal heating up around him, as he joins his power with Ivy's, his human visage turning more green and vine-like as he wraps his biologically produced vines with the one's Ivy summoned from the Earth. They both intertwined as the energy around them seemed to spark with growing power.

But Swamp Thing felt something from Ivy, something inside him that was trying to distract him, they'd been going at it like this for hours, something was wrong, Ivy was distracted and right now he needed his undivided attention, they'd edged themselves long enough.

He quickly snatched Ivy closer to him and flipped them over so that Ivy was on the bottom, Ivy looked in his eyes with surprise for a moment, but it passed as quickly as it came when Swamp Thing started fucking into him, gripping him tighter.

"Stop resisting me Sam, let go and be one with me, let go," he begged, he was nearing tears at how much he wanted this release.

"I'm--I'm trying, just--just keep going, I'm almost, oh fuck, I'm almost there please," Ivy keened, wrapping his legs around his waist, head thrown back in extasy.

Swamp Thing pulled his focus to Ivy's body, his bio-vines rising from his false skin and wrapping themselves around Ivy's body. More of Ivy's vines are coming from the ground beneath them, wrapping around Swamp Thing, they were centimeters away from touching. They could both practically feel the power in the room, the raw reddish-green energy coming from the both of them started intermingling together between them.

"Now, fuck Nick, do it now, cum in me!" Ivy screams jerking his body upward to meet Swamp Thing in a searing hot kiss, Ivy's red and green ombre hair becoming greener for a moment with the heightened connection.

Swamp Thing's human visage fading entirely as they both try to reach pollination, and suddenly their vines meet, for just a split second their vines mate as they do send a red pulse between them and the vines, freezing them.

They lay together, frozen in time, their energies having touched for just a moment and Swamp Thing and Ivy share their seed, but only for a second. Not nearly enough time for either to be fully connected, but long enough for them to receive the surge that pushes them both to climax.

They both unfreeze Swamp Thing cumming deep inside Ivy, his human visage having returned, and Ivy's hole spasms around him, cumming over both their chests and stomachs.

Swamp Thing collapses atop him, still inside Ivy, as Ivy's vines return to the ground below, and Swamp Thing's bio vines return to his body. Ivy's eyes shot open, his eyes completely black as his hair fades back to an ombre with the green highlights at the bottom.

Swamp Thing jerks up, his eyes flaring black for a second as well, both of them are energized as Swamp Thing pulls Ivy into a deep kiss and Ivy returns it, their irises flicker red, as glowing red energy intermingles in their breath. They pull away from each other, energized.

"Whoa, head rush," Ivy says, as Swamp Thing flops over beside Ivy, breathing heavy with adrenaline, his eyes bright red. Ivy readies himself to stand up by is quickly snatched back by Swamp Thing who pulls him by the waist and into his arms, Ivy laughs.

"And just where do you think you're going," he responds, wrapping his arms around Ivy protectively, Ivy is beaming, loving all the attention.

"Trying to get dressed, I wanna see what I can do, you know it doesn't last that long," he says, pretending to struggle out of Swamp Thing's grip.

"You know it doesn't have to be temporary, we could feel like this all the time," Swamp Thing reasons and the jovial moment passes to a more serious one, Ivy's smile falters and he pulls away from Swamp Thing.

"Nick, we've talked about this," Ivy says, sliding towards the edge of the bed, and Swamp Thing comes up behind him, caressing his back, and kissing his shoulder blade.

"Yeah I know, but you still haven't told me why you won't at least try again?" he asks, kissing Ivy up his neck and nibbling on his ear.

"You remember what happened the first time we tried, we almost died, our seedlings have to be a perfect match for true pollination and I just..." Ivy trails off and Swamp Thing pulls away, having realized what Ivy was trying to imply.

"You don't think we're a match?" he says, the hurt very present in his voice as he slides away from Ivy, standing up. Ivy gets up and turns around to him.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," he counters, standing up to face Swamp Thing as he waves his hand over his body and his vines slide up his leg covering his genitals with leaves, dressing him.

"That's exactly what you're saying, all I'm good for is a little seed crossing but the great Poison Ivy's too scared to actually be vulnerable with anyone," Swamp Thing counters, human visage's nudeness having been covered by his own vines as he slowly turns greener with anger.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I'm not in a big rush to get us killed. Pollination requires more than just vulnerability, it requires trust, complete a total trust.

It's more than just a ploy to strengthen your powers, it's a union, but apparently all you care about is using me to achieve your goals," Ivy counters again, and Swamp Thing stares at him, completely shocked.

"My goals? Do you hear yourself, Samuel? You and I share only one goal, to save the Green and destroy all those that take advantage of her. And you know as well as I that pollination would take both of us to the next level, not just me.

If I wanted you for only your powers I would've never even brought this up, but I guess your seed is tainted with humanity," he snaps back and Ivy is in front of him in seconds, the fury boiling him to his core. His irises shimmering red with his enhanced energies,

"Tread carefully, _Swamp Thing_ ," he snipes, using Nick's other name to accentuate his threat,

"If anyone's seed is tainted it's yours, with all the flowers you mate with. Last I checked, I'm not the only one in your garden."

"Please, as if you don't have your fun too," Swamp Thing retorts, standing up to Ivy, not fearing his anger.

Ivy was stronger than him, even without the enhanced energy of their cross seeding, but he never feared him.

"Yes, but maybe your seed is spread too thin, maybe that's the reason our pollination failed the first time we tried. And as for your little quip, the only human thing about me is my patience with your temper tantrums."

"You listen to me Sam, and you listen well," Swamp Thing snatches Ivy by his shoulders and pulled him closer, staring him deep in his eyes,

"It doesn't matter how many flowers either of us have in our gardens, you're the only one I take care to tend to every chance I get. You're the only flower I want and just like the beautiful red rose you are, you're pricking me every chance I try to pull you close."

Swamp Thing releases him, and Ivy lowers his head, not wanting to make eye contact, and Swamp Thing pulls his chin up to him, and looks into Ivy's piercing green eyes,

"I love you, Samuel Isley, you and the Green are the only beings in the natural world that matter to me. We were born to be with each other, can't you feel it? The Green led us together that day in Arkham because she blesses our love, she celebrates it.

We are her warriors and if we pollinate, she can finally solidify our connection to her, she can share even more of her power with us. Tell me, why do you fear this?

What's keeping you from submitting to the pollination? Where is the part of you that keeps pulling you back to the humans?" he asks. Ivy looks into his eyes, his mouth agape, trying to find the words but nothing coming out because he doesn't know the answer.

He worships the Green and he feels like he's falling for Swamp Thing, but there's still a piece of him, a piece of his heart that won't allow him to be vulnerable enough for Swamp Thing and him to achieve pollination.

He wants to love him, but there's something holding him back, and even though he hated that Swamp Thing pointed it out, he was right, his seed was tainted, because part of him, even a small part, was still human.

"Nick, I--" Ivy starts and suddenly he fills his heart race and heat envelope his body. His eyes flare red as he senses the grounds outside his home, feeling his children, their emotions.

Normally he could only hear echoes of their thoughts and feelings, but with his heightened abilities from the cross seeding, he could actually see and hear what them clear as day.

 _You are not welcome here_ , he heard them say as they wrapped themselves around what they believed to be the Joker's body.

For a moment Ivy was going to ignore it because if Joker did cross his land he deserved exactly what was happening to him. But there was something off about the image he was seeing in his mind's eye, something was very wrong with this picture, and that's when he heard it.

 _Ivy_...

He quickly pulled himself out of Swamp Thing's arms, much to his surprise, he'd heard Swamp Thing calling after him as he nearly ripped the door from its hinges as he rushed outside. That wasn't the Joker and his children were covered in blood, Harley's blood and he could feel it.

"Release him!" Ivy screams, his eyes shimmering red as his children immediately retreated from Harley's body, the enhanced nature of his power causing them to snatch away from Harley so quickly that he was dropped to the ground.

Ivy quickly went over to Harley hoisting him up into his arms, and Harley lazily wraps his arms around Ivy's neck, to hold on but his strength was ebbing.

"Ivy...I'm sorr...I just--I wanted to--" Harley tried to speak, but his voice sounded groggy, he was barely able to form a sentence. Ivy knew that time was ticking.

"Shh, just breathe okay, just focus on breathing, Harley," he begged, quickly bringing Harley into the door.

Swamp Thing, having realized what was happening rushed out of the way and pulled the table closer to Ivy as he quickly but gently placed Harley on top of it. He heard him groan out in pain, trying to form words, but nothing was coming out. Ivy was trying his hardest not to let the tears fall, but they were brimming and he could feel them coming on.

He looked at the open wound in Harley's stomach, it was deep, and Ivy had no idea how much blood he'd lost. He quickly tried to apply pressure on it, but since he moved Harley's body, it was flowing even more. He was terrified.

"What happened? Who did this?" Swamp Thing asked, coming over, to Ivy's pantry, pulling out bandages and gauze.

"Who do you think?!" Ivy snapped angrily at him, a mix of fury and fear in his voice. He knew exactly who did this and all he could feel was a white-hot rage in his body. Joker had an abusive streak, one that Ivy always hated but Harley insisted that he could take him and that he'd dish it right back to him.

He assured Ivy that this was just how they worked out their differences, and while it's gotten bad before, they'd never actually try to kill one another, that was over.

He promised Ivy that he was okay, and looking at his body now, looking at all the blood, the bruises, the broken arm, Ivy had to fight with everything in his might to hold back tears.

Swamp Thing had come over with the gauze and Ivy shakily pulled off Harley's white shirt to inspect the damage closer and winced as he saw the nasty tear through the flesh of Harley's stomach.

He instructed Swamp Thing to hold Harley down to keep him from wiggling away but the moment he shakily poured some hydrogen peroxide on the bloody wound, Harley screamed and clenched his stomach, only making the blood flow even faster and suddenly he was shifting a little, not shaking, but shifting like he was attempting to shake.

His body was trying to convulse, but he was losing more and more energy to do so and soon he wasn't shifting at all. He was losing him, Ivy could feel it.

"No, no!" he screams out and slams his hand on the side of the table reaching with his mind deep into the soil beneath him and pulls upward. Swamp Thing steps back as the vines find their way to Harley's body, wrapping around him, cocooning him.

Ivy reaches deep inside himself and pulls toward the healing Nature of the Green, pulling the nutrients from the soil trying to repair the damage.

"Ivy...Ivy! What are you doing?!" Swamp Thing screams as he walks over to Ivy and he turns to him.

"I'm saving him," he responds, not even turning to look at Swamp Thing as he tries to focus on using the excess energy he got from the cross seeding to speed up the process, but he doesn't have enough. Saving a life comes at a price, especially a life that is almost left the body entirely.

Ivy and Swamp Thing could be healed more easily because they were only part human. Being that Harley is all human, healing him would take more power, but Ivy didn't care. He'd give everything he had to save him, but he was and it wasn't working. Harley was slipping away by the second.

"You would dare ask our Mother to heal a human? The very thing that takes from her every single day," he asks, and Ivy still ignores him, focusing.

"You don't understand, he's...he's more than just human--he's my--I can't lose him, Nick, I can't lose him," Ivy tries to explain, but Swamp Thing just looks at him as if he's never seen him before, like he's a stranger to him,

"Please Nick, please help me, I'm not strong enough, he's dying."

"No, I couldn't, I wouldn't dare take from her, but you...you--" he snatches Ivy's hand and pulls him to him. Ivy tries to release himself from his grip but Swamp Thing uses his excess energy to force Ivy to stay planted, his irises glowed red as he looks into his eyes,

"Why are you fighting to save a human life? Why would you--"

He asks, but the moment that he sees the tears falling from Ivy's eyes he releases him instantly and steps back, surprised. Ivy blinks away the tears, turns back to Harley and realizes that his efforts are still useless, he doesn't have enough power.

"You're in with love him..." Swamp Thing admits, having come to the realization, the pain of betrayal so evident in his voice. Ivy breaks concentration for a moment and turns to him, wiping away the few tears that escaped.

He looks at him, and he wants to deny it, but Swamp Thing cuts him off before he speaks.

"That's why you can't pollinate with me, that's why you can't let me in, because that--that human is already in your heart, isn't he? I never stood a chance," he says, his voice cracking from the truth of the situation.

"He's like a brother to me Nick, you know that I told you be--" he starts.

"No," Swamp Thing cuts in again,

"You told me you loved him like a brother, but you know as well as I, that none of that matters when you are hers. She's your mother, your sister, your everything.

No human ever comes before her, and yet...here you stand, taking from the Green to save your friend, and you expect me to help you save him. I tolerated him because you said you cared about him, but had I known...had I known that you and his love was deeper than your love for her..."

"Please, Nick," Ivy starts and turns back to the cocooned Harley, seeing the blood seeping out of the vines,

"Please don't let him die."

Swamp Thing turns to leave and that's when Ivy is broken, the dam keeping his tears from flowing broke and he's on his knees,

"Please--please don't leave me, please...I can't--I can't take it--I can't--" Ivy tries to get out, but his voice is hiccuping in tears, breaking in between words, he's falling apart and he doesn't even know who he's talking to.

He's about to lose his best friend and boyfriend all in the same moment, and it was just too much. As much as Swamp Thing wanted to leave him, let Harley die, he couldn't bear to hear Ivy cry.

Ivy was hardly ever vulnerable around him. In the three years they've been together, he's only ever seen a few sides of Sam, but this one, this side was breaking his heart in more than one way.

He loved him too much to leave him with nothing. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned around back to Ivy. He walked over to him and lifted him to his feet.

He pulled his face to him and wiped away his tears, and looked into his eyes. He saw how much he needed Harley and he wouldn't be the one to take Harley from him. Swamp Thing knew that it was Harley's fault that he was in this situation with the Joker.

He knew that whatever happened to Harley was his own doing, his own responsibility, his own penance for having a relationship with the Joker, he knew that Ivy didn't deserve losing his friend. Whether he agreed with what Ivy was doing or not, he was in love with Ivy and that small part of Swamp Thing that could still feel was compelling him to help Ivy.

He neared Ivy's lips and closed his eyes taking in a deep breath, he reopened his eyes, having pulled the excess energy to the surface, and they glowed red. He used his thumb to pull Ivy's quivering bottom lip down to open his mouth as he breathed the energy inside him, the red mist flowing from his lips to Ivy's.

He gave him just enough to save Harley, but kept just a drop and used his other hand to caress Ivy's neck, allowing for his energy to push something to the surface.

He pulled away from Ivy, all the cross seed energy he'd received flowing through Ivy now, strengthening him even more. Ivy's eyes were fiery red now, a glow coming over his body as the power settled inside him and then he shifted back a little, Swamp Thing's parting gift rising to the surface.

"What did you do?" Ivy asked, looking at Swamp Thing as his skin turned from its greenish color to a tan and his hair shimmering back to its original brown color. He was wearing his human facade, his original skin before his change, so he looked at Swamp Thing, confused.

"If you're going to use it to save him, you're going to do it looking like that. A thief," Swamp Thing snips, and Ivy looks on, heartbroken,

"You're not who I thought you were. You've lost yourself Ivy, and that man...he'll be your undoing, but you...you won't be mine. Goodbye, Ivy."

Swamp Thing turns around, his body shifting as he turns into his more monstrous form, stepping outside of Ivy's door. Turing into the beast-like swamp creature and Ivy walks toward the door, watching as he turns back to him. Even in his natural form, Ivy can see the truth in his eyes, as he turns away from him and leaves his yard.

They were both heartbroken, but that wasn't something that Ivy could deal with at this moment, right now, that had to wait. He quickly moved over to Harley's bleeding form, still cocooned in the vines, the healing qualities having slowed down his bleeding but not stopped it entirely.

He only had a few seconds before Harley was totally gone, and he placed one hand on the area where Harley's stomach would be and then on Harley's head. He pulled the energy that Swamp Thing gave him, combining with his own, and watched as reddish energy misted over his hands and he lifted them.

He let the energy flow from his hands and into the vines, quickening their healing capabilities. His vines absorbed the energy and he felt the warmth all around, the energized feeling of the cross seeding pass from him and into Harley.

"Heal," he spoke the command and the vines followed suit, sucking the last remaining cross seed from Ivy and began repairing Harley's body.

Ivy stepped back and looked as the vines tightened around Harley, and melded together, becoming a solid green, placenta-like shell as it filled with an enhanced aloe vera gel. Ivy crouched down in a prayer kneel next to Harley,

"Please, please, don't let him die," he begged, hating the fact that as he clasped his hands he could still see his tan skin, still see that he was, at least on the outside, very much so human.

He closed his eyes and waited and then he felt the glow on his closed eyes, he opened and looked at the placenta-like shell and it was glowing on the inside. The Green had heard Ivy's prayer.

Ivy pulled himself toward the wall in the kitchen and slide his legs up so that he could hug them as he looked at the glowing shell. He looked down at his tan skin and started to cry again, his brown hair covering his face as he cried into his knees.

He knew what Swamp Thing did to his appearance would fade in time...it already was, but it didn't change the message behind it. Ivy was always sure of one thing, he was a servant, a warrior of the Green. Ever since she'd let him into the fold, everything he did, he did for her.

And then...Hartley comes back into his life. When all he felt was hate for him, things were so much clearer. But ever since he forgave him, ever since they made amends, Ivy's felt different.

Even when he lost connection to the Green and got it back, along with a deeper connection, he thought what he felt for Harley was done. But seeing him like that, the shock of seeing him almost die, it shook those feelings he'd repressed a loose.

He loved him and loving him took away the only person capable of loving him back, Swamp Thing. He hated to admit it, but he wasn't who he thought he was, because the moment he was about to lose Harley, he became just like every other human on the planet, willing to move mountains to save him.

The Great and Powerful Poison Ivy had a weakness, and his name was Harley Quinn.

_______________________________________

My eyes shot open suddenly, I blinked a little, coughing as I broke through some plastic-like barrier that seemed to have me encased in what felt and tasted like some odd gel. I broke out of it, like a shell and took in some deep breaths as I wiped my face.

I tried my best to clear the gel out of my eyes and I look around, taking deep breaths trying to regain some steady breathing. I recognized the surroundings immediately as the memory of where I was returned to me.

I'd come to talk to Ivy, but I got attacked by his garden because I had Mr. J and that other guys blood on me. I looked around and saw Ivy on the floor, having fallen asleep, lying against the wall, no doubt waiting for me to get up. I inspected my wounds and looked down to see them completely healed, no stab wounds, no bruising, and my shoulder was back in place.

He saved me...he saved me and I felt horrible because of it. He wasn't supposed to save me. But he did anyway. I looked down and immediately recognized what this was, what I was encased in, this was from his plants.

Ivy used his powers to save me, he used his children to heal me. I remember how much it hurt him to have to sacrifice one of his children in battle or a fight.

But that was different, they usually protected him, but this was different, he had to consciously use them to save me, meaning some of his plants had to give up their life to heal my body.

I crawled off of the table and walked over to Ivy lying on the floor asleep, his face was tear-streaked with fear, exhaustion, and pain. Why did I come here? Why did I keep putting him through this?

He hated my relationship with Mr. J, and he kept telling me that one day it would go too far, one day he'd go too far, and he was right. Tonight was that night. It was selfish of me to come to him like this, I should've known he'd try to heal me, I should've known he'd save me because that's what we do.

We save each other. But I just didn't want to die before I apologized to him, I'd said such horrible things to him, I was trying to hurt him because I was angry.

I was angry at Mr. J, I was angry at the other one, I was just pissed off and Ivy was in my line of fire. He didn't deserve that and even after that, he still saved me. I wasn't good enough to have someone like this in my life, someone who truly loves me through it all. Even when I'm a stupid, selfish, asshole.

I crawled over to Ivy, nestling under him, my head on his chest. He stirs awake looking down at me, his face full of relief and he pulls me into his arms. I hold onto him, and my eyes start to water, immediately.

Those tears I was holding back finally finding their way out. He looks at me solemnly, sharing the same emotion, and I knew then that I wasn't the only one with a broken heart.

I may not have powers like Sammy, and I may not be connected to some greater being like he was, but I knew him just as well as he knew me. We held onto each other tightly and released all our pain, crying into each other consoling each other the only way we knew how, by just being there.

After all, the only way to heal from a love lost...is to grieve.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Two Months Before The Fight_ **

I was standing at the bar, serving drinks to some of Gotham's worsts, I was sporting my now-signature red and blue coat with a new emblem Mr. J had sewn on it, _Property of the Joker_.

My hair was flicking around in my face as I bounced around, making sure I got all my customers, wearing nothing but my fishnets, shorts, boots, and my _Daddy's Little Monster_ t-shirt. I really liked having longer hair now, mostly because now Mr. J had something to pull on when he was fucking me. I really liked that.

Obviously, I didn't have to work, dating a criminal mastermind had many perks, but I get bored. Especially when Mr. J was handling business. I glanced over at the young blonde girl sitting in the room that wasn't a room.

It was just some beads separating the sitting area from the bar and club, but it was where all the shady underground business deals took place.

Mr. J handled all the business interactions, I was just his arm candy, trophy husband, and I thoroughly enjoyed just having my fun. Killing who I want, all the money I could want, and the man of my dreams, I was in heaven.

But not right now, not when Mr. J had his attention averted, and not when he's seducing one of his business partners. I rolled my eyes as I mixed the vodka tonic for the waiting customer. Even though Mr. J and I had a deal when it comes to monogamy, he only fucks girls and no other guy, and I fuck only the guys he's okayed, but it still annoyed me when I had to watch his job.

Apparently, this girl had a pension for bad boys and has been crushing on Mr. J since she met him and he's been putting the mack on heavy in order to secure the deal with her and the other members of her posse.

Apparently it's a big deal that could land Mr. J a big chunk of change, and a nice addition to the north sector he's been trying to secure since last year. I just came along to see the strippers but I'd forgotten that Braeden said it was _straight_ night, so the only people the stage where girls and the only men in the audience were straight.

It was incredibly boring.

The only thing keeping me distracted is bartending, thankfully Braeden's usual wanted to go home anyway, so I just took on his shift for the night to keep me abated until Mr. J sealed the deal. From the looks of it, he was close to closing it seeing as though this heavily tattooed, stud was staring into Mr. J, batting her eyes and hanging on his every word.

I was annoyed. I was temporarily distracted when I saw him get closer to her, whispering in her ear, flirting as she giggled. I was rubbernecking so hard that I didn't even notice the young man snapping his fingers and whistling at me,

"Hey! Yo hoo, air-head, mind paying attention to your fucking job?" the goth young man yelled angrily at me, I turned to him and smiled as I sauntered over to him, my night finally getting a little more interesting.

"Hi handsome, you don't have to be so mean, I was just bobbing around, sometimes I get a little loopy," I say, putting on my staple Bronx accent.

This guy was obviously new to the crime scene, fresh meat, because he didn't even seem to notice the other men sitting on either side of him sliding their chairs over, knowing exactly who I was. I was getting excited.

The guy looked at me, disgusted by my pretend advancements, I loved when they got all squirmy, such fragile sexualities, one compliment from a man and they are undone.

"Listen, I don't do any of that fagotty shit, just get me a whiskey sour, and get it quick, keep me waiting and there's going to be a problem," the guy threatened, and my eyes lit excitedly because this was going to be fun.

He was trying to assert his dominance, pick out who he thinks is the weakest link, start a fight, win or kill me, and he sets up a nice reputation. Good plan, wrong person, and the men next to them just casually turned away from the scene, already knowing what was going to happen.

Faggot and airhead? He's two for two, one more and we've got a strike, not that it mattered, it would happen either way, but...I like games.

I turned around, fixed a glass of ice and purposefully filled it with vodka, and turned back to the goth kid and sat the glass exactly where I needed it, just far enough to where he would have to reach.

He looked at me, the anger very prevalent in his eyes and I just batted my eyes and slid one of my hands behind my back, gripping my switchblade as I pulled the drink towards me.

"What the fuck do you think you're getting at here, fucking dumb faggot," he said it again, this time snipping even harder, and I could see him slide to his feet, pulling his hand underneath the table, no doubt reaching for the brass knuckles I saw on his belt loop when he sat at the bar.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face, oh I was going to have a good time. Our little exchange had garnered a slight audience from the people sitting at the bar, the music was so loud though, that everybody else was focused on either the strippers or each other. I slid forward a little, my timing and angle had to be just perfect.

"You see pumpkin, there's something you should know about me," I say, and at that I saw him ready his knuckles, coming closer to me and that's when he hit the perfect angle and I pounced, grabbing his head and slamming it against the glass full of vodka, smashing the glass on his face. He cried out in agony, the vodka searing his bloodied left eye and still burning his open wounds.

With his hair still gripped in my hands I jerked his face on its side and waited for the inevitable reaching of his brass-knuckled hand, but because of the angle I had him at, his hand was flat on the bar for about a few seconds and in that second I let his head go and stabbed him directly in the middle of his hand, the blade staying firmly planted in the wooden bar.

His screams became louder, catching the attention of some more onlookers, including a very pleased looking Mr. J. I saw him look through the beads, him and the young woman, hearing the commotion and I decided to put on a quick show. I could hear Braeden coming from the back but before he could catch me, I had a point to make.

I leap onto the bar, locking the goth man's head in my legs midair as I snatched him backward onto the floor over on his side of the bar, snatching his hand from my blade, splitting it a little as I landed on my side. He struggled underneath me but I just laughed as I crawled toward him, his head still locked in my legs, my crotch inches from my face. He whimpered as I caressed his face,

"If I wanted you, you'd be the first person to know, okay babycakes," I say smiling and he just cries in agreement, trying his hardest to grab at my legs to let him go, but I wasn't really in the giving mood.

"Harley!" I heard Braeden scream out as his goons lifted me off of the goth boy,

"No fair! No fair! I was just getting to have some fun!" I scream out, and the guards pull me into Braeden's arms as he hugs me from behind, holding my arms to my side in a bear hug.

I could overpower him if I wanted to, the guards too, but it was Braeden's club and I was his guest. The goons grabbed the goth boy roughly and threw him out of the club and I saw Mr. J smile at me, that devious smile he gives so well, I knew what that smile meant, I was getting fucked tonight.

I smiled back as Braeden released me, winking at him as he turned back to the young woman, my dick already hardening, fuck I needed him, but at least I was getting him horny. The club resumed, as usual, being that most of Gotham's worst was here, a little bar fight never stopped the action, people just went back to their conversations as they normally would have.

"Damn, he's giving you serious 'I'm blowing your back out' vibes, I can feel them over here," Braeden adds, having seen Mr. J and me exchange looks.

I look at him as he eyes Mr. J's ass and I give him a look to which he immediately hold his hands up in mock surrender.

"Yeah bitch, don't get cut," I playfully threaten, Braeden smiles as he rolls his eyes, walking me back behind the bar,

"I'm not blind Harley, he's hot, you're hot, I'd fuck you both if you'd let me, but I'm not after your man, Harley, I'm after him," he says, gesturing towards none other than Dr. Crane over at the front of the club.

His signature mask sitting at his side as he stares at the young woman giving him a very thorough lapdance, He rarely took off his mask but when he did, the man underneath wasn't half bad. I looked back at Braeden who licked his lips lustfully.

"Careful, he might awaken your greatest fears," I tease him, immediately disarmed by his interest in Scarecrow and not Mr. J. I knew Braeden wasn't actually interested in either of us, he just liked teasing me because he knew how jealous I got when other guys checked out my man.

"Trust me, my biggest fear is that I won't get fucked tonight. I've been sending him round after round, hopefully, he'll get drunk enough and the girls get him horny enough to where he's just looking for a warm, tight hole he can bury his dick in, to which I would happily oblige" Braeden says, smiling. He was attractive, couldn't deny that.

Strong jaw, tan skin, with short dirty blonde hair, a bright white smile, and pale green eyes.

Even though we were the same age, Braeden just looked too much like me, a trait that many of the patron's noted. Aside from my pale skin, he could almost pass for my younger brother, which is predominantly the reason we haven't slept together.

Sam and I pretended to be brothers, but we bore no physical resemblance, Braeden was different, he looked too much like me before ACE chemicals, and it sort of creeped me out.

"Now, can you please, just try not to kill any of the paying customers, if someone else bothers you, just please let me handle it," he begs, batting his eyes at me.

"But what if they say those mean words again," I say, pouting my lips, Braeden, realizing that he isn't going to win at this just rolls his eyes as I shift and sway from side to side, childlike.

"Then I'll let you pull the trigger, _outside_ of my club, deal" he offers, and I smile and jump up and down in glee, he just shakes his head and I hug him,

"Yay! See, it's not that hard to be a good friend," I wink as I strut over to fix another drink for a guy who I'd almost forgotten about, but he shakily reached for the drink and of course, because he was afraid,

"Boo!" I say, throwing my hands up at him and he nearly bolts, and I laugh like a little school girl as Braeden elbows me in the side,

"Harley! Don't make me put you in timeout in the back with me until your man comes for you," he threatens and I hold my hands up in defeat and resume my bartender duties and he walks back to the back again and here we were again, back to boring.

That guy got my blood pumping, and now my dick was hard, and Mr. J was still busy so I knew I couldn't get any dick until later so I was just at a loss.

I watched the girls on the poles, doing average, everyday pole tricks that I could do in my sleep. I wished I could get on one tonight, I really wanted to give the boys a show, but these boys are straight.

Fuck, all I got from that chemical vat was some enhanced strength, higher pain tolerance, and a slight healing agent, nothing too noticeable.

Why couldn't I have the power to make straight guys gay for a few minutes or so? That'd be cool. Plus, they were clearly enjoying the women dancing on the stage, so I just pout until I notice a few of the men, and even some of the strippers look towards the entrance of the club and I knew immediately who it was.

Of course, when I think about turning straight men, the succubus of the century walks in, looking as vibrant and radiant as ever. Attracting the eyes of even the most butch of the straight men, much to their own surprise. I smiled widely, crawling over the bar to run over to him,

"Ivy!" I say as I leaped into his arms, he stumbles back a little as he holds onto me. I wrap my arms around his neck and wrap my legs around his waist. Due to the height difference, I fit perfectly in his arms. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks and I missed him so much.

"I missed you, too," he says, as he hugs me back for a few minutes and I climb off him and look at him to admire his new look, he'd let his hair grow out again.

"Look at you, your hair's almost as luxurious as mine," I say whipping my hair, that was now neck length. Obviously, Ivy's was much longer, going down to his shoulders, but I liked teasing him.

He walked with me over to the bar as I leaped back over the counter to fix him a drink.

"Maybe one day I'll get locks as long and full as yours," he responds sarcastically, almost gliding over to the bar. The men sitting there, immediately becoming frazzled as he comes closer, no doubt questioning their sexuality.

Ivy always had a way with people, but something was different, he just seemed to almost emanate sex appeal. I mean, I always knew how beautiful Ivy was, but this was just different, he seemed more sexy, more seductive, and even...more powerful.

The moment he sat down at his seat and I saw the shimmer of red in his irises, I immediately realized why his sex appeal was so much stronger.

"I see Swampy paid you a visit before you got here, someone's glowing," I say, flirtatiously. Ivy shrugs his shoulders, feigning bashful.

"Whatever do you mean? Aren't I always lovely."

"Always, but I see you got a little extra help tonight," I add, shaking up the contents in the mixer, getting Ivy's cosmo ready. The man next to him tries his hardest to avoid looking at him, Ivy smiles loving the attention.

"Well, Nick is quite the giver, and did he give, again, and again, and again," he smiles, swaying his body seductively in the seat and I heard some of the guys sitting next to them almost choke on their drinks, one of them adjusted their pants in their seat, no doubt sporting a hard-on.

"I hate to admit it, but when he's not all green and viny, he's pretty good looking, and he does have a face you wouldn't mind sitting on," I add, reminiscing on the first time I saw Nick in his human form.

Messy, short blonde hair, with those devilish light blue eyes, and that devious smile, he reminded me a little of Mr. J.

"I sure didn't mind and neither did he. My ass was in heaven, hate to tell you Harl's but I think he might be better at it than you," he teases, and I see the guy next to him, shifting his legs, his mouth open and not open, almost like he was trying to keep himself from saying something he'd regret. 

"Bitch please, he wishes, if I wanted I could have you screaming my name over and over again, without even touching your dick," I warn, Ivy smiles leaning back in his chair, feigning stretching, as the guys at the bar reluctantly checked them out, their insides probably confused as to what exactly is happening in front of them.

"I don't know, Nick's half plant, so his tongue...extends," he says, leaning near and rolls my eyes, handing him his Cosmo and he licks the sugar on the rim seductively.

"Well damn, he's got me beat there, check you out getting the supernatural ass whisperer," I joke back and Ivy and I share a laugh, Ivy cuts his eye over to the beaded off area to which Mr. J and he make eye contact.

Ivy purses his lips and turns away, I turn to Mr. J, who just scoffs as he turns back to the young woman. Ivy and Mr. J are the two most important people in my life and they hated each other with a fiery passion.

"Come on, Ivy, can't you at least pretend you like him?" I say, pulling up a stool from the bar and sitting in front of him.

"Well, I didn't immediately send a vine through his spine so that's progress right. Besides, we agreed that we'd be civil. He doesn't come to my house, I don't go to yours, and on neutral ground, we keep our distance, that's about as close as we're going to get," he answered, flicking the hair out of his face as he arched his back in his seat.

The guy to the right of him squirming like a teenage boy seeing a girl's breasts for the first time. Ivy smiled sipping his cocktail, knowing exactly the effect he was having on this man and the other men at the bar. He was leaking sexual energy.

"I wish you two would just kiss and make up, and by kiss I mean, kiss me and fuck me while you two make up. We would fit so well together, couldn't you just imagine--" I said dreamily, interrupted by Ivy choking on his Cosmo.

"Sorry, I think I just--," he coughs again, clearing his throat, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit."

"Oh come on, the three of us fucking each other, ugh, it'd be like a dream," I say, batting my eyes. Ivy just turns his body away from me, leaning his back against the edge of the bar, his elbows keeping him steady as he drops his head back to look at me.

"A dream? More like a living nightmare," Ivy shudders,

"I can barely stand to look at him, do you really think I'd let him anywhere near my hole or my dick?" He laughs and I pout, and he reaches up with one of his hands to pull my neck forward as he pecks me on the lips,

"Sorry hot stuff, but this dick wouldn't come within a mile of Joker's...well...anything."

"Can I touch it!" The guy blurts out next to Ivy, surprising us both as he wiggles around, clearly uncomfortable with his own outburst, yet I could tell he felt compelled to say what he said.

I looked at Ivy, who just spread his legs enticingly, biting his lips as his eyes shimmered red for a moment, the guy was practically whimpering.

"You wanna touch it?" he says, his voice lustful, as the tent of his dick underneath his very limited and very revealing leaf made shorts, started to thicken.

"Yes," the man on the other side of Ivy answered for him, and Ivy just smiled,

"Well, go for it boys," he gives them permission and both of them reach out and caress his dick, barely even grazing it and they cum in their pants, instantly.

Ivy merely laughs as the clearly sexually confused men, having come to their senses, and realized what they'd done, quickly got up from the table to run to the bathroom. I looked at Ivy in awe.

"Fuck, you weren't kidding about that whole cross seeding thing, talk about a boost. I've seen you make people do some pretty wild stuff before, but cum from just a touch? Lucky bitch," I say, Ivy turns to look at me, smiling broadly as I roll my eyes until I hear the chords of my favorite song, When We, by Tank, start to play on the speakers, the strippers starting to slow down a little,

_When we_   
_When we_   
_Mmm_   
_When we_

"You know what, fuck this, why should those bitches have all the fun, I'm just as good as them...shit, I'm better," I say as I lift myself onto the bar and pull on one of the chains dangling over it, usually saved for the go-go boys.

Ivy looks at me, his interest peaked as I flick my hair and lean down, trying to match with the beat of the song,

_I like it when you lose it_   
_I like it when you go there_

The men at the table starting to turn around from the strippers and look at me, Ivy just stares at me, smiling. I sway my hips lustfully, letting the music move through me,

_I like the way you use it_   
_I like that you don't play fair_

At that beat I slipped into a middle split, right in front of Ivy, dropping my head and flicking it back, a few strands covering my eyes, and I heard a few of the men at the bar hoot as I pulled on Ivy's shirt.

Maybe it was a combination of all the liquor in their systems, or Ivy's enhanced pheromones permeating the air, making people a little more susceptible to bending their sexuality, but they seemed to be liking the show. But this was just the beginning.

_Recipe for a disaster_   
_When I'm just try'na take my time_

I slid my legs forward, pulling him closer to me as slid into his lap, licking his cheek as I felt him hard as a rock underneath me.

_Stroke is gettin' deep and faster_   
_You're screamin' like I'm outta line_

I slowly slid out of his lap, throwing my leg on the other side of him as I pushed him and his chair back with my ass, looking at him, between my legs, my legs spread apart. The men started whistling, I was good, I knew it.

_Who came to make sweet love? Not me_

I popped up belly rolling, as the men started to look at me with desire in their eyes as I turned to Ivy, his eyes lit with lust.

He was enjoying the show, and I noticed that Mr. J had taken an interest too, both he and the other woman. I had an audience and I shan't disappoint them.

_Who came to kiss and hug? Not me_

I walked and slid into a slow split nearing Ivy, and the boys watched me go down, ever so gently.

_Who came to beat it up? Rocky_   
_And don't use those hands to put up that gate and stop me_

I smiled as the chorus came around, bouncing my ass up and down, still in the splits.

 _When we fuck_  
 _When we fuck_  
______________________________________

Joker looked on at Harley's antics, he smiled to himself as he and Cycle stood there watching his boyfriend put on a hell of a show. If Joker wasn't already hard from watching him kick that goth punks ass, watching Harley work his body so precisely and so sensually, was making it increasingly more difficult for the Joker to maintain his usual suave composure.

Harley was getting fucked, and the more he teased the harder the Joker was going to fuck him.

"Dirty fucking slut," Cycle said as she started rubbing herself through her tight leather pants, Joker turned to her, watching as she pleasured herself while watching Harley's show.

"What did you say?" Joker said, his voice calm and calculating as he tried to contain the rage that peaked at hearing her words.

"Harley, he's a fucking hot, dirty slut, fuck," she said, unbuckling her pants as she slid her hand into her pants, rubbing her clit a little as she watched,

"You've been teasing me all night Joker, I know we were playing it coy earlier, but your boyfriend is fucking hot, god, you're hot, he's hot, fuck, I wish you both could fuck me."

Joker turned to the young woman, his resolve shaking for only a moment, but not yet, he had to be certain she meant what she said before he reacted.

This was an important deal, but Joker didn't care too much for money or peace, but what he did care for was his possessions and anyone who even so much as thought of his possessions without his approval...

"I think...I think I can make that happen," Joker responded, pulling her hand from her pants and placing it on his dick, she bit her lips as she felt his hard dick tenting in his pants, and they both turned to continue to enjoy the show.

______________________________________

I was in Ivy's lap now, grinding into him as he ground into me, our audience getting antsier by the minute, we were making out now, and the men and some of the strippers in the club were cheering. Apparently, the more excited Ivy got, the more his enhanced powers spread his pheromones in the room.

We were two men making out and grinding into each other and we were being cheered on by straight men. Talk about the twilight zone.

Things were just getting interesting when I heard a whistle that immediately broke me out of my lust-filled haze. I knew that whistle and I pulled away from Ivy and turned to see Mr. J looking at me, his eyes full of that dark emotion that almost made me cum in my shorts on the spot.

I looked at Ivy, cocked my head, asking, and he just rolled his eyes and nodded as I got off of his lap, much to the disappointment of the small crowd that had formed around us. They'd dispersed as the DJ shifted the track, to a song that the strippers could give lap dances to.

Ivy walked with me, arm in arm over to where Mr. J was standing and he turned to Ivy, annoyance in his eyes, Ivy reflected the same emotion,

"Joker."

"Ivy."

They spoke coldly and curtly to each other. Ivy kissed me on the cheek and gave Mr. J another glare before strutting out to leave the club, hooking his fingers into the belt loops of the two 'straight' men that were touching him earlier.

They followed excitedly, and one of them lifted Ivy into his arms as they carried him out of the club, some of the other men cursing to themselves that they didn't get the chance to take him home. 

I smiled, as Joker looked at me, his eyes aflame with desire, I leaped up on the couch in front of the beaded entrance and pulled them apart,

"Oh...come to daddy," he says, as he held his hand out,

"Puddin," I laughed excitedly, and he takes my hand to pull me in his arms. And I smiled, and I saw the glint of evil in his eyes and my libido went into overdrive.

"Listen to me, you are my gift to this gorgeous hunk of beauty," he says, pulling me towards the young woman now sitting at the other side of the couch, she smiles, her eyes lustful as she stared at me.

She was eyeing my dick, I could see it...I liked it. I walked over to her, as I placed my hand on her legs,

"Mmmm," I say, then I bark at her in excitement, she gets nervous, as I get on my knees and slide my face in between her crotch. She's shivering as I start sliding her pants off, and come toward her, pulling her zipper down with my teeth, she lifts up to help me.

She sits there, her panties soaked with her excitement and I slide my hands up her legs and her stomach taking off her jacket and shirt as I pull her arms toward me, lifting her to stand. I hear Mr. J press the button to seal off the room, Braeden installed it in case things needed to be more private.

I sit down in front of her and sliding my shorts and fishnets off two, she looked at me in surprise, obviously, I had no reason to wear underwear.

She came toward me, gulping, and I pull her to me, letting her straddle me, my dick pressed right up against her pussy lips. I hear her groan at the contact, she wanted me badly. I let my hands caress her breasts, still, in her bra, she was quite beautiful,

"You're cute...you want me?" I ask, and she nods, biting her lips hard. Pushing against my dick, eager to have me lift her to let her sink down onto me. I pull her close as I whisper in her ear,

"I'm all yours."

Mr. J comes up behind her, breathing heavily, and he snatches her head back and she laughs, liking the rough contact. I grip her waist, keeping her steady and enticed as I pressed closer to her moving slightly, rubbing it against her entrance.

She opens her eyes and looks into Mr. J's eyes and she sees him, and I lower my head darkly as a smile started to crawl on my face.

"Are you...enjoying yourself?" he asked, his voice no longer hiding the malice behind it, she looks at him and then to me, I cock my head.

"No...no, he's your boyfriend Joker, that's not--I shouldn't have--" but before she could finish her sentence, he'd already slit her throat, her warm blood spilling over her nearly naked body, spilling onto me too. I start to laugh.

"Right you are," he adds, laughing maniacally as he stabs her again, harder this time, covering her mouth to muffle the screams as he mutilated her, stabbing into her over and over and over again, as I held her close, keeping her body steady.

Her blood covering both her and my chest and arms. He backs away, she coughs a little blood before she dies, and I released her and let her body fall to the ground, her head cracking on the metal table.

I laid back, terribly unsatisfied. I didn't even get a chance to fuck her and my dick was even harder from all the excitement. I looked at Joker as I laid on the couch, covered in her blood, massaging it all over my body like a lotion, laughing in glee. I loved it when he got jealous, it was my favorite thing in the whole world to see.

I looked at him, my eyes full of fire and his expression was filled with anger. He was breathing heavy and I could see the outline of his dick in his pants.

"I've been a very bad boy, Mr. J," I say, feigning innocence, his breathing get heavier as he started to walk towards me, that murderous glint in his eyes.

Fuck, if he doesn't fuck me now, I think I'll die.

The song changed again, the music funneling into the room as he neared me, No Reg, by Skye Townsend starting to play.

_Well, I woke up tossing and turning_   
_An unfamiliar fire's been burning_

He got on top of me, I could practically feel the adrenaline beading off of him, as he ripped off his pants and was on me like a rabid dog and I was a stray cat he'd seen in his path.

He was kissing me with a forceful purpose, and I was reciprocating, fighting for dominance I didn't want. I just needed him to show he was in control.

_And I don't know how to feel_   
_I'm not used to real_   
_It's too real_

He pushed me against the couch, hard, proving he was the one in charge, kissing me harder, gripping my arms tightly and I gave in, giving him his prize.

_For more than two years, I've been lonely_   
_And then you came around ever so slowly_   
_When I needed it most_   
_You'd just hold me_

My submission made him want me even more, he loved when I gave up control, he loved when I submitted, but he had to earn it. He started kissing down my bloodied body, taking my dick in his mouth, deep throating me with ease.

But only for a few moments, only until he'd worked his way down to my balls, then to my taint, and then he lifted my legs into the air and...oh god.

_And then you'd unfold me_   
_Every layer_

Mr. J took to my hole like it was his last supper, he licked me with such vigor that I screamed out in ecstasy. Fuck, he's licked my ass before but this was different, this was...this was as if he was an animal. He was kissing, suckling, fucking my hole with his tongue.

This feeling, this feeling couldn't be put into words. The way he stiffened his tongue, spearing into my hole, holding my legs high as he pushed his tongue in and out, in and out, in and out...

_I don't wanna run from it_   
_This is the happiest I've ever been_

He pulled his face from my hole, kissing back up to my balls and started sucking my dick again as he pressed his fingers inside me, one, then two, then three.

He was sucking my dick so well that I didn't even notice how fast he was going, how quickly he was preparing, fuck he was fingering me, pushing it deep in me, spreading me, opening me up to receive him.

_I'd rather escape with these memories_   
_Than worry about losing him_

He was done with the foreplay, he was done preparing me because he and I were ready. He wasn't gentle, he didn't slide into me slowly, no...he didn't do that. He lined himself up to my hole and with one heave he pushed himself deep inside me and I yelped, not in pain, but with earth-shattering pleasure.

My mind was hazy, my body was alive with electricity, a static-like feeling spreading over my head as I closed my eyes tightly and reopened them to look into the eyes of my lover.

_I don't really wanna run from this_   
_This is the happiest I've ever been_

He looked at me, with that guttural need, that animalistic passion, the spark that just made me shiver with dark glee. Seeing that woman on me, seeing her try to fuck me, sent his possessiveness into overdrive.

He wanted to--no he needed to remind me who I belonged to. He had to restate his claim to me, I was his and only his.

_I'd rather escape with these memories_   
_Than worry about losing him_

So he started fucking into me, pulling out and pushing into me so hard and fast that my mouth opened and he caught my lips in a searing kiss. He was angry because the thought of me with someone else he didn't approve of, the thought of him not being in control of me...it ripped his insides apart.

I liked him like that, all cut up on the inside looking for someone to fill that void of power he so desperately craved, that was my purpose. To give him the power.

_This is noreg, noreg, noreg_   
_No regular love_

He was nearing his climax, and so was I, he came hard inside me, releasing deep in my hole and immediately lowered himself to take me in his mouth. I didn't last long and exploded in his mouth as my mind went white with the intense pleasure of him swallowing me. I thought I was about to die with how good this felt.

He came up to me, pulled me in his arms, my body was immensely sensitive, shaking from the aftershocks of pleasure. He gripped me tightly, and I relaxed into him.

"Who do you belong to?" he asks.

"You, Mr. J. Only you," I respond, and he breathes out a steady breath of release. He may never say the words, 'I love you', but I know...I know deep down...that's what he was trying to say.

The final chords to the song played in the room as I'm held by Mr. J, my heart singing alongside the performer in my mind.

_And I don't how to feel_   
_I'm not used to real_   
_I swear that's too real_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Now_ **

I stepped out of Ivy's shower, drying myself off, and walked into his bedroom. Ivy was in the kitchen, making some breakfast so I pulled on my clothes, pausing when I'd tried to pull my shirt over my head and a sharp pain filled my abdomen.

I winced slightly and looked down at my stomach. Even though there was no scar on my ab muscles, there was a slight line that reminded me of what happened.

It was barely noticeable, but I could still see it, and seeing it reminded me of who put it there. I guess even the Green can't fully erase the past, that little piece of pain I still felt when I pulled on my shirt reminded me that what happened, did in fact happen. It wasn't a bad dream.

I sat down on the edge of Ivy's bed and tried to gather myself. I couldn't do this right now, I didn't have time to process what happened fully yet, I still needed time. But Ivy was in the kitchen, Joker was...well he wasn't here.

I guess I have to deal with one mistake at a time, and right now, the fight Ivy and I had yesterday morning, the day everything changed, that was the first mistake that I needed to fix. I walked into the kitchen, Ivy was focused on fixing the meal, it looked like a salad of some kind, and I was pretty certain that there was beet juice in the cups at the table.

I pulled out a seat and Ivy merely turned to acknowledge my presence. He walked over to the table and handed me my plate while setting his plate down in front of him. I pulled my fork up and started analyzing the food as I saw Ivy close his eyes for a moment, and reopen them before beginning his meal, some kind of prayer to the Green, I think.

I wasn't really a fan of veggies, give me a nice burger and a slice of pie and you've got a happy Harley, but this was Sam's house and his rules were very strict when it came to his diet and those eating in his home.

So I toughed it out and started eating, Ivy occasionally looked at me, but never bothered to speak. He was still upset, that much I was made painfully aware of. That moment we had last night, was just that, a moment. We were both vulnerable, and we both needed each other, but now, in the harsh light of day, he could see that I was okay, sympathy or pity he felt for me yesterday had faded away.

The fight we had was still very present on his mind, and I knew he wanted to talk about it, even if he was trying to pretend like he wasn't bothered. So after about five or so minutes of eating in silence, I figured I'd try to cut the tension,

"So, you know what I never understood?"

"What?" he asks, not bothering to look at me.

"Why do you eat plants? Like shouldn't you hate vegetarians, because of the whole protecting the Green thing?" I ask, immediately regretting my choice of words.

Ivy looked up, and cocked his head, knowing exactly what I was doing. However, he still answered,

"Fruits, vegetables, and herbs are by-products of plant production. Animals that feed on plants take what they need and give back when they decompose and provide nutrients to the soil. Hence the natural order of things," he adds, pulling an apple slice from his salad and holding it up to me,

"Eating an apple from a tree doesn't hurt the tree itself, it actually helps maintain its growth, but cutting a tree down provides no purpose or benefit to nature. Fruits and vegetables were created for the purpose of sustaining life.

Humans got greedy and like parasites, take too much, and exhaust resources. I eat to survive, humans live to eat...in abundance. Not even taking the time to give thanks to the one who made it possible."

"Oh, okay, thanks for the uh...clarification," I say, smiling, Ivy just rolls his eyes and returns to eating his salad. I tap my fork on the side of my plate and start shaking my leg, I couldn't get right to my real question just yet, I so I decided to work my way up to it,

"So....what happened?"

"What are you talking about?" Ivy lies.

"I'm not stupid Ivy, I know you. What happened with you and Nick."

At the mention of his name, Ivy puts his fork down and looks at me, his face stone cold. He looks at me for a moment and averts his gaze before taking in a slow breath and releasing it,

"We had a disagreement. He went his way, and I went mine."

He stood up and took his plate threw it into the sink, nearly breaking it. He was hurting, and he hated it. Ivy never took heartbreak well, he tried to be strong, tried to act like it didn't affect him, but it did.

More than he'd ever admitted. Last night, the only reason he cried was because he'd seen me almost die and he'd just lost Swamp Thing.

Ivy was strong but even though he acted like he was above such human emotions, he was still human where he hated it the most, in his heart. I walked over to try and place a hand on his shoulder and he yanked away from me, going back to sit at the table.

"Ivy, talk to me, I'm here--"

"Save it, Harley! Just...save it. The last thing I need is you pretending like you give a fuck about anyone besides the Joker."

That stung, I deserved it, and I didn't know what else I could say. After what I said to him during our fight, what else did I expect from him?

"Ivy, that's what I was trying to tell you last night, I was trying to say that--" I started.

"I don't want to hear it, Harley! You do this every time--EVERY TIME!" he shouts at me, and he's standing in front of me in seconds,

"He attacks you, and what do you say, oh, that's just the way we are. He beats you, and what do you say, oh, he didn't really mean it. He literally tries to kill you and what do you do, you go running back!

And then when someone tries to help you, you just keep making more excuses for him. Then you sit there and you wonder why I don't fucking like him, why I wish you would just kick his dumbass to the curb and move the fuck on. He's not good for you Harley!"

"I know! But it's not all his fault, I fight with him too, I've tried to--" I reason.

"It doesn't fucking matter, Harley! Please tell me, in what universe, in what reality does, 'we beat each other' sound like a loving relationship!?"

I sink down into the seat at the table and Ivy follows, still fuming.

"I know..I know...you're right. It's just--I've...I love him, Ivy, I don't know why I just do. I love him and when I'm away from here, no matter how bad I know we are for each other, I feel like there's this monster inside me that's clawing at me from the inside begging for him to be next to me, to be near me, to be inside me.

I need him, Ivy, I need him and it hurts when I'm not with him. It feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest and the pain is just...it's too much!"

"Well, you were so sure that you could fix it yesterday, so sure that your love for him would conquer everything, tell me, Harley, after he broke your trust, after he did the **one** thing that you made him promise **never** to do, tell me, did killing the so-called 'problem' fix him? Did it make everything better?"

"No," I admit, flashing to the bloodied T-Shirt covered in the other person's blood. I love killing, just as much as the next sociopath, but...but this person, they were different. Killing them felt different.

While I felt like I had to seek out vengeance for what they'd done, the way they died, the way they looked at me, the way they felt about me, it just made hate myself more than I already did for killing them. They got what they deserved, that's what I forced myself to believe.

That's what I needed to believe. But I went too far, I killed them and now...now I wish I didn't. I wish I was sane enough to realize that all that happened had nothing to do with them, but Mr. J. It was always Mr. J.

They didn't betray me, Mr. J did, and I still killed them. Now I have one less real friend in the world and Mr. J still doesn't love me. So...what was the point? I thought I'd feel better once I killed them, I thought if I killed them and forced myself to believe that they deserved it that the pain would go away, but it didn't.

And now, I had to live with my decision, when I hoped that Sam would just let me die with the guilt. Because being alive and guilty is worse than being dead. At least dead people can't feel pain anymore.

"And now that you did it. Now that you killed him? Now what? You and Joker are going to live happily ever after? Tell me, Harley? When you caught him, did you see any regret in his eyes?

Did you see any sign that he cared that he hurt you? Any sign that your pain mattered to him?" he asked his barrage of questions and all of them had an answer that was simply a resounding,

"No."

"Then what was it all for? If he can get away with so much, without the slightest repercussion from you...then what was it all for?

You keep going back to him, you keep running right back into his arms after everything that he's done. So tell me, Harley, what's so different this time."

"Because! Because I'm a fucking idiot because I thought...I thought I was changing him. Because I saw something, I could've sworn that we--we were making progress--that he was changing. I thought I was enough. But I wasn't Ivy.

Happy, now? You were right and I was wrong, and I'm fucking sorry. I'm so fucking sorry for what I said to you, for what I did. There was no excuse. I was a dickhead for what I said to you yesterday and I'm sorry. I thought I belonged to him, I thought we belonged to each other...but we don't.

Honestly...I don't think we ever did," I admit, and Ivy looks at me and sees the resolve in my face and sits down beside me, his mood having simmered down.

"I'm not saying that I'm over him, because that would be a lie. But I am saying that he made a choice. One that made me look at him and see him for exactly who he was. I'm done, Ivy...I mean it this time," I said and at those words, my voice started cracking and my eyes started to water.

I wasn't going to cry. I needed to show Ivy that I was serious this time, and he looked at me for a minute and then he smiled a little. Not a smile of happiness, but a smile of pride and relief. He walked over and pulled me into a hug,

"I'm so proud of you, Harley..."

He pulls away and looks at me, smiling at me, "He almost took you away from me...I almost lost you. I won't lose anyone else I care about, you hear me?

You need to tell me, Harley, do you really mean it this time, are you really done with him, because if this is just another one of your--"

"It's not. We're done," but even as I say the words, I can feel the frog in my throat.

As much as I want to believe what I'm saying, it's only half true. I was done with the Joker, mentally, but my heart....my heart was an entirely different story. That was going to take time, time and space. Ivy sensing my anxiety pulls me into another hug.

"I promise you'll get through this Harley, we both will, faster than you can say, Wannabe Pennywise," and before we could laugh we both jumped as we heard a crash as Ivy's door was blown open by a few of Mr. J's more burly looking men.

Before Ivy could react one of the men had already cuffed him in a meta dampening bracelets and three of them were holding me in place as two of the others held Ivy. I struggled against them, but their grip on me was pretty ironclad, I knew I could break free eventually, but it was going to take some time.

They knew me too well to hold back, I looked around knowing exactly who was strolling into the house right behind them.

"Wannabe Pennywise? Really, Sammy, that one stung," Mr. J walks in, looking at Ivy who was staring daggers of hate as he walked over and winked at me. My resolve was wavering already.

"Let him go, boys," he states, walking up closer to me. He was limping slightly, the bruisings I'd issued out yesterday having left a mark, even on someone as strong as him.

His makeup covered up most of the bruising, along with his healing starting to kick in, but I knew where I left those marks, and I could still see them.

"But boss, what if he?" Rocko starts, his voice, nervous, and the other two looked to him fearfully as well, not wanting to let me go either. Understandable, after all, there were originally six of them on his detail, after last night, and now there were only five left.

He stood in front of me, and all that my body wanted to do was crawl into his arms and let him make the pain go away. But how can the person who caused your pain make it go away?

"He won't do anything, will you Harley," he says, pulling me from their arms,

"Leave him alone, Joker, he wants nothing to do with you!" Ivy screams out, trying to break free from the handcuffs, but Mr. J's men just held onto him tighter.

"Really?" Mr. J answers, pulling me closer to him, letting his hand travel down to my dick and he starts to rub me through my pants, I wanted so badly to hate his touch, wanted so badly to hate him, but my body, it was betraying me,

"That's not what his dick is saying or..."

He pulls me up to his lips, kissing me lightly, and all I want to do is bite of his lips, his tongue, I wanted to kick him in the balls and rip his whole body apart.

He broke my heart, I wanted to destroy him, but again, my mind was saying one thing, screaming one thing, but all my body was doing was craving his touch and giving into his lips.

He tasted so good, his mouth, his tongue, fuck I loved this man so much. I had to stop. I had to pull away, but every time I tried to pull away, he deepened it and gripped my body tighter, holding me in place.

Caressing me, melting my resolve. And finally, after what felt like forever, he released me, and for a second I was his again.

"I came here to collect what's mine, didn't I, Harley," he says and then I remembered...I wasn't his anymore. Not after that, not after what he did to me. My body may have still been weak for him, but the anger I felt for his statement, the lie that I'd believed for so many years, reignited my resolve.

I smiled, putting my hands on his face, and just when I see him return my gaze, I head-butted him in his nose, hard, forcing him to stumble back. His men quickly grabbed me, snatching me back from him.

"Don't you EVER, fucking touch me, again!" I threaten him, my words biting as I stared back at him in fury.

Ivy smirked, no doubt enjoying watching me finally stick up for myself but Mr. J just looked at me, his dark gaze filled with predatory rage. He bounded near me and gripped my face hard as he stared into my eyes. I just looked back, unafraid.

Of course, I still loved him, of course, I wanted nothing more than to be his, but after betraying me as he did, after that...I drew a line, and he crossed it.

There wasn't any coming back from that. With the blood running from his nose, he used his other hand to wipe a little onto his finger and looked to it and started to laugh, his dark cackle filling the otherwise silent room. He wiped the blood into his painted-on smile and stared back at me,

"I like it when you're feisty, really gets the blood pumping," he says, as he wipes the blood away with a handkerchief from his pocket,

"I guess it'd be more like blood flowing huh?!"

He lets out another cackle as he places his hands on my chest, and I wanted to yank away, but both my body and the men holding me wouldn't let get away from him.

He was like a drug, and I was an addict in rehab...keep putting the drug in my face and I was getting closer and closer to a relapse.

"Makes me want to bury my dick deep inside you, fucking you until you remember who you belong to," he says, his voice low and threatening, and a chill of desire runs through my veins hot like fire.

"There's one thing I do know. I don't belong to you, not anymore," I say, letting my memory of what he'd done quell the desire rushing to my dick at his words.

His smile falters for a brief moment and a flash of regret passes over his face, mixed with what I could see was hurt.

He readies his mouth like he wants to say something, and for another small moment, I see his vulnerability, but as always, he pulls back just before we can reach any new ground.

I thought we were passed this, I thought he was different, but the moment I saw him pull back again, I knew he was the same man he's always been.

"Somebody's been putting some nasty little thoughts in your head, haven't they," he says as he turns to Ivy and he just stares daggers of hatred at him.

"Don't you dare! He has nothing to do with this! This was all you, Mr. J, you did this to us, not him! You should be blaming yourself!" I scream at him, knowing what he was doing. It was just like him, blaming everyone else for his problems, his mistakes, not this time.

"He's the one who took you from me! He's the one that keeps getting between us. I won't let anyone take what's mine from me again, not even you Sammy," he says, as he turns away from me and heads over to Ivy, my mind was immediately kicked back into overdrive as I realized what he meant.

I was about to grab him, but then the men held onto me tighter, holding me down against the kitchen table as I watched him approach Ivy.

"Mr. J, no! Please!" I scream out, the fear in my voice evident. He looks to Ivy and he just stares at him hate in his eyes.

"You know, Red, he's right. It is my fault. I allowed you to stay in Harley's life, and look where that's gotten me.

I've had enough of you butting in on things that don't concern you. Time to fix my mistakes, don't you think?" he says, smiling.

"Kiss my ass, circus reject," Ivy hisses back.

"Not even in your nightmares bitch, he says as he pulls out his flower from his pocket as his men push Ivy closer to him,

"Now, the only person left for Harley to love, will be me."

Ivy and I exchanged a quick look and we are both are on the same page instantly. I knew the chemical compound used in his sprayer, to humans it's deadly, but Ivy wasn't human.

I loved Mr. J, I knew it in my heart, but right now, he was trying to kill my best friend, so my love for Sam had to be my focus right now.

We needed to get away and I needed to be away from the Joker, because right now, what I was feeling was far from being 'over him', I still wanted to be his so badly it hurt. So I had to get away and the only way to do that would be to play along so Ivy could get the upper hand.

"Please Mr. J! Please!" I scream, feigning fear, purposely pushing against the men to make them feel like I was trying to break free.

"Since you love flowers so much, take a whiff of mine," he sprays the liquid into Ivy's face and I scream out as the men, doing exactly what I'd expected them to do, release Ivy.

Believing my scream of anguish, the men holding me loosened their grip slightly, thinking there was nothing I could do now because Ivy pretends to cough, having inhaled the deadly mixture, and he steps back, covering his eyes, laughing a little

He laughs a little, and Mr. J starts to smile, thinking his chemical was working its way into Ivy's system. Ivy laughs again, and it's a different kind of laugh, and I see him pull his hands away from his eyes as he smiles,

"It doesn't work on me," he says as he leaps into the air and kicks Mr. J in the face, knocking him back into the wall adjacent to the front door, and he falls to the floor.

He flips back into the air and kicks both Mr. J's men in the chest and knocking them over as he starts slamming the cuffs on his arms against the counter trying to short circuit them. The men holding me, start to release me to stop Ivy, but the moment they give me enough leverage, I flip the one holding me down around so that his body crashes into the table and breaks my fall as I rip from his grip.

The other two ready themselves to fight, but I'd already pulled my switchblade from my boot and slit the first guy's throat and snapped the other guy's neck with my legs in one swoop. Ivy had broken free from his cuffs and summoned vines to throw the men that were holding him through the front door and into Mr. J who'd begun to stand.

All three of them were outside in Ivy's yard, trying to regather themselves and I saw Ivy summon his vines to start crushing them and I quickly grabbed his arms and forced him to look me in the eyes. My green ones, looking into his total black voids.

"Please Ivy, don't. Please, Please don't...I still love him, I can't watch you kill him, I know that he was trying to kill you, but please. If you love me, please let him live," I beg, and he looks at me, and I look back at him, begging.

I see his expression soften slightly, his jaw clenched in consideration,

"This time," he says, as he looks outside to the men, and crushes the other two men.

He lifts Mr. J in the air, and looks at me and sends him flying backward into a creek. His eyes return to their green shade and I turn to see Mr. J struggling to get up, and that's all I needed to see. He was alive. And I give Ivy a small smile, thanking him.

He stares back, his expression serious,

"This time _only_ ," he says.

I nod in response, and he grabs me by my arm and pulls me along through his back door. He was right. How could I expect any other reaction? Mr. J was fully prepared to kill Ivy, so now, whatever truce the two of them had between one another was destroyed at that moment.

This was the Joker and Poison Ivy, and the only thing that kept them from going after each other was me. Now that there was nothing standing between them...neither one of them would hold back now, not even for me. This wasn't going to end the way I hoped, with Mr. J accepting what he'd done, and accepting his consequences, or at the very least apologize.

Had he just said he was sorry, had he just explained why maybe we could've at the very least stayed friends. But us getting back together? What he did was unforgivable. He had one promise, and he broke it, and now I had to let him go. But I still loved him and I still loved Ivy, I didn't want either one of them to die at the hands of the other.

Regardless of what he did...he was the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and now, he forced me to try and figure out how to live without him in it. But at least in that version, he'd still be alive in it.

But I should've known who he was, I should've known who I was breaking up with, he wasn't going away without a fight. But now he's set something into motion, something that I hoped would never come to pass between the three of us, something that was going to cause me to do something I never ever wanted to do. I had to choose.   
_________________________________________

Joker looked on at his boyfriend running from him, he watched as he saw Harley look back only for a moment, to check and see that he was okay. Ivy was going to crush him, just like he'd crushed his other men, but Harley talked him out of it. Granted, in the heat of the moment it slipped his mind of Ivy's particular abilities, and that slip up cost him his chance at getting rid of the problem.

It won't happen again. He hated how Harley made him feel, hated how in the span of four years, Harley made him feel things that he promised himself he would never feel for anyone.

It was deep in his soul, his mind, it was like an infection that he couldn't do anything to get rid of. Harley made him feel...safe. He made him feel like he could be vulnerable and that terrified the Joker. If his family taught him anything it was that things like love and vulnerability were a weakness.

How could he expect to be the king of Gotham's underground crime syndicate feeling things like that? But he did. He did and he hated it.

It was only recently that he'd started feeling these new feelings. Where before, he'd recognized that he wanted Harley, he desired him in his life. He knew that he felt something for Harley, a love of a kind, and he wanted to own him, he was his property after all. But his love was possessive, in the way that an owner loves their animal.

Harley was like his favorite pet, he protected him, he took care of him, disciplined him when necessary, but he enjoyed having him around.

Like a pet, he wore his collar, his puddin necklace, and his pale skin were constant reminders that he was, in fact, the Joker's Property. Harley taught him that he didn't have to be alone, he could have someone and they could give him some form of freedom. For years, he felt like Harley was a great addition to his life, but he could be replaced.

He could get someone else if he wanted, fashion them to look like and act like Harley and he'd be just fine. But it wasn't until a few weeks ago, it wasn't until Harley did something that made the Joker feel something different for him.

Changed the way he viewed Harley. He was more than just a pet, he was more than just an addition, he was...special. Harley was irreplaceable.

Knowing that terrified him, knowing that because he learned this, he'd let Harley do something with him that he said he would never let Harley do. After that, he felt like his power was gone forever, the hold he had over Harley had been shattered.

At least, in his head, that's what he believed, but it had to be true...it had to be.

Because what he did to Harley, what he did to try to reclaim his power, he thought that would make him feel better. He thought that it would make him feel accomplished, he thought that it would make Harley back into just a pet in his mind. But it didn't.

The look in Harley's eyes, the look of betrayal, that was an image the Joker couldn't shake from his mind.

He slapped his head over and over, hitting himself as hard as he could, but the image never left. It stayed right there in his mind. He hurt him. He hurt Harley, and it was driving him even more insane than he already was.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!" He screamed at himself, hitting himself harder, he hated himself. Another new feeling for the Joker.

He was right. He was always right, and now...no he had doubts about how right he really was. He had doubts about his choices, his decision.

Harley made him promise, he made him promise and he told him, that's all he wanted from him, and the Joker would happily oblige. After all, he'd never thought he'd have a reason to do what he did, and yet, in his twisted mind, he found one, and now...now he was going to lose the only thing in the world he cared about.

_"I don't belong to you, not anymore."_

The words stung like fire, he felt like his heart, it felt like someone was stabbing him, and he hated it. He wished him and Harley could just hash it out, just fight and move on, that's how they always solved their problems. He'd crack his arm, Harley would crack his ribs, it was how they worked through their problems.

He thought that after last night, they'd just fight and then fuck each other senseless. But...but that fight was different. Harley wasn't fighting to communicate, he was fighting because he was heartbroken. The look in his puffy eyes, the blood covering his t-shirt, and his tear-streaked face. The memory. It was too much.

"Ahhh!" Joker screamed, tears brimming his eyes, as he slammed his palms against his head again,

"He's mine! He's mine! He belongs to me!"

He screams, to trees and forest around him, to the empty house filled with his dead men.

"You can't have him," Joker whispers to himself, threatening no one, and everyone at the same time,

"Why did you do that? He loved you...he loves you...he needs you...you need him...why did you do that?! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

He hated everyone and everything at this moment. He thought this would fix everything, he thought this would fix how he felt about Harley, instead, it had the opposite effect. It just made him feel more, and worse because now he hurt Harley.

He pushed him too far, fighting him was one thing, but this...what he did...it was something much worse.

He broke Harley's heart and now he had to take him back, he had to make him realize that they belonged together. He had to fix the damage, but he couldn't do that. Not with that bitch Ivy in the way. Ivy was the only thing standing in the way of their relationship, Harley could have easily killed Joker if he wanted to.

Joker knew that. He also knew from that kiss, that there was still a chance for them. Sure, he head-butted him, but he felt the heat there.

He hadn't stopped loving Joker, he was just fighting to try and keep himself from coming back to him. Harley's body and heart were still his, it was just his mind that he had to break back into submission, once he got the mind back on track, then everything else would fall back into place.

But he couldn't do that with Ivy in the way. Ivy was trying to break them up the moment he met the Joker, always trying to convince Harley that their relationship wasn't worth it.

And now, the Joker had given Ivy just the ammo he needed to deliver the kill shot to their relationship, but not anymore. Not if the Joker had his way. After all, he did make a threat, and a threat amongst murderers isn't a threat, it's a promise.

Joker stood up from the ground, cracked his neck and growled a little and smiled.

He was going to have his Harley Quinn back. He was going to fix his mistake, he was going to prove to Harley that they are meant to be together. He couldn't see it then. He could see what he'd done before, but he knew now. He knew that he needed Harley more than just as a pet, but as his lover.

Joker didn't like feeling what he felt for Harley, but it didn't matter, because he did, and he would do whatever it took to take back what belongs to him.

Ivy didn't just steal Harley, he stole the very embodiment of the Joker's heart and was trying to keep it from him. So Joker just smiled, he'd let them escape, besides, he couldn't face Ivy alone, especially not with Ivy being at full strength and no backup. He had to be purposeful in order to take Ivy down, strategic in order to overpower him.

But he could because the Joker always got what he wanted. He'd find a way. He always has before. This was merely a minor setback.

"Fine Ivy, if it's a fight you want, I'll give it to you. You won the battle, I'll give you that, but you failed to remember," he starts as he smiles even broader, walking up the road,

"Joker wins the war, every...single...time."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Now_ **

Amanda Waller walks down the short corridor, her files in hand with a tight smile on her face as she makes her way to her team. Flag is the first to stand to attention when she walks into the atrium to greet her men, the others follow immediately and she gives a nod and Flag signals the men to be at ease.

She smiles curtly at Flag's respect for her, Waller was never a fan of friendship, her career always came first, but Flag and she had gotten close.

At 19, when she discovered she wanted a career in the government, she paid to surgically ensure that she could never have children, she considered them liabilities. However, even though Flag was 33 years old, he still had a sort of boyish charm in his eyes, that made him look like he was fresh out of college.

He was an Asian young man with jet black hair and a square jaw, and very handsome.

She'd sort of taken him under her wing and in working with him for so many years, he'd become a sort of phantom son. She'd grown fond of him, and he felt the same, so she made sure he was assigned to her infantry because this mission was the most important one yet. She walks up to the small podium and eyes her team of twenty of A.R.G.U.S. had to offer,

"We have only one objective tonight. Retrieve my Sirens. It took us three years to locate that damn book, and now we've got three days to retrieve it before Ra's is fully resurrected and moves it again.

Once my team is retrieved, we move forward immediately, there is zero chance of failure, under any circumstances, if we lose, the government loses, and as long as I'm here, that...will never...happen,"

The men look to her, hanging on her every word as she continues,

"There are criminals, dangerous and powerful. You are supposedly the best we have so you better prove yourselves damn good at your job. Use necessary force to detain them, but they must be brought in alive and unharmed.

We need them at full strength to undergo their first active mission. Failure is NOT an option. Understood,"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," they answer in unison, speaking with militarized precision.

"We will succeed and we will retrieve that Book, and when we do, the U.S. government will remain the most powerful superpower in the world. No metahuman, no witch, and no army would dare stand against us.

Ra's may be afraid to use the full extent of what that Book is capable of, the U.S. army fears nothing, we never fear power, we take it and utilize it, don't we?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

"72 hours starting tonight. 72 hours to Make America Unstoppable. You have your mission. See it through," she finishes.

Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

Flag leads his men from the atrium and they drive off to get the place in order for her Sirens to arrive. She knew they'd be gone until tonight, so she had time to prepare for the coming arrival. She smiled as she walked back inside, in her now, much larger office.

Due to her assistance in incapacitating Ra's in the first place by enlisting Chato Santana to eliminate him, her bosses gave her a nice raise and leagues more clearance. She had no idea the extent of Chato's pyrokinetic abilities, and their effectiveness in taking down someone as powerful as Ra's.

Unfortunately for her, when Chato unleashed the full extent of his abilities on Ra's, he was killed in the process and now that Ra's had been partially resurrected by his followers, they had nothing standing in the way of Ra's becoming fully empowered again.

However, none of that mattered to Waller at the time as she was pulling the briefcase from her safe and pressing her thumbprint onto the scanner to open it.

Waller was never a woman without a plan, but the credit for the takedown of Ra's Al Ghul was not her plan, it was someone else's. That very someone who informed her that taking down Ra's was only the tip of the iceberg, she was the one who informed her of the secret of his everlasting life.

The secret to how he could consistently cheat death and resurrect himself...the Book of Lazarus.

She, of course, had to find a way to convince her superiors of the Book's importance, explaining to them it's capabilities, selling them dreams of world domination, and a near-perfect military. Having seen what Ra's was capable of, they believed her and allowed her to seek it out.

Using the full resources and manpower she needed to locate and retrieve the book. However, that was far from the reason why Waller wanted that Book in her possession.

That Book may hold great powers, but it can't do half the things that Waller promised it could, if it did, Ra's would have used them already to take control of the world. There are of course invocation rituals that could bring about the end of days, but as Waller had already been informed, by the person who's muddied heart she as holding, Ra's was not strong enough alone to cast such magic.

At least not yet, not until the ritual under the red eclipse where his powers could be magnified threefold.

However, there were other spells Waller was interested in, one that could effectively do what she needed to be done, but first...she needed to cut some loose ends. She locked her office and closed the curtains, and walked over to the old gothic style mirror hanging on the wall adjacent to her door.

She held the heart up to it and closed her eyes,

"Enchantress," she whispered, and blew some of the dirt from the heart onto the mirror and watched it morph into the muddied, sulfur covered reflection of the swamp witch,

"What information do you seek," her dark voice filling the room, now shrouded in darkness and Waller simply smiles as she looks at the creature, under her total dominion. During one of her interrogations with June Moon, she'd accidentally revealed that the only way to control the witch was to take her heart.

After a few more sessions, she'd found out just where June hid it, once he retrieved the heart of the Enchantress and gave it to Waller, her superiors had informed her to dispose of the witch.

The Enchantress was too powerful of an entity to be contained in a human vessel, so she had to be dispatched and June agreed. But Waller saw the potential within the Enchantress, the potential that caused her to reevaluate her planned course of action.

Enchantress put a hell of a show pretending to die, as Waller destroyed a three-D copy of her heart and used a ritual she'd discovered from the personal interrogations with the witch and bound her spirit to a mirror.

Of course, June still had to die, for effect, but she'd had an ancient witch her debt, a debt that the Enchantress was paying for the past four years. She may not have been able to tell Waller the exact location of the Book, being that she and Ra's were similar in power rank, but she could give Waller general leads, leads that she's been following for three years now and this last one was finally paying off.

"Are you sure that the Book is still in there?" she asks.

"Yes, its energies are sensed and revealed, because Ra's must prepare for the red eclipse for his fate to be sealed," she answers.

"And the spell?" Waller presses on.

"The spell of enslavement, the one you seek, is still in the pages the Book of Lazarus keeps. Once enacted, no one can deny, any command given until you die.

Complete control, overall that hear, a single utterance from your speech to ear."

"Good," Waller smiles, eyeing the witch in the mirror. It was true, this book was going to bring the U.S. government to the status of an ultimate superpower.

She had one goal in mind after learning about the capabilities of wielding such a weapon, becoming the leader of the nation she so proudly represented. She knew that achieving that goal would be near impossible, and for years she'd accepted her place and recognized that this was probably as high up in the ranks as she would get.

But this Book, that Book could change everything.

"I've waited for this moment for 47 years, and it's finally come. No more restrictions, no more clearance, I'll be the undisputed head of the U.S. government, outranking even the President.

No one would ever challenge my authority, our troops would belong solely to me, no emotions, no fears, nothing would stand in the way of the commands I issue. Complete control...I like the sound of that," she adds, smiling tightly, her voice shaking with anticipation.

"With that spell, coupled with the power of the Amulet and the Lazarus Pit, you'll live forever, and rule as you see fit. However, on the seventy-second hour, someone will interfere, and without my release, the spell will be commandeered," the Enchantress calls out and Waller walks toward the glass, looking at the swamp witch, scoffing.

"The so-called prophetic Enchantress, you know, you may be right about a lot of things, but I hope you don't think I got this far in life off trusting what anyone tells me. I do my research, and it just so happens, the spell does not require has-been witch, anyone willing to do what is necessary can, so it seems you've exhausted your usefulness.

And if you really were psychic as you claimed to be, then you should know what happens next? Shouldn't you?" Waller smiles, pulling a blade from her pocket and holding it up to the heart of the Enchantress, the witch merely looks down at Waller, slightly annoyed.

"My life is extant, I'm beyond this place, it is the consequences of your actions that you soon will face. Crush my heart, I shall return.

In time, centuries, or when the millennium turns. For me, it's merely a waiting game, but kill me now, and you've lost your gain."

"Is that a threat? I do believe that you are in no position to threaten anyone," she says as she slices into the witch's heart, the Enchantress winces in pain, as the mirror vibrates and the light in the room flickers.

"When the hour approaches, and the foe is faced. Five lives are lost, and four souls, displaced. I've always hated human wills, they cloud my visions until choice fulfills.

But you are direct, I know what you'll do, because the end you chose, begins with you."

Waller's resolve wavers for a second, and the Enchantress merely lifts a disinterested eyebrow at the woman. Waller collects herself and walks up toward the mirror and stares the witch in her eyes,

"Alright bitch, you want to speak in rhyme. Well, how about this. If I stab a swamp witch right in her cold, black heart. How long will her soul take for her soul to break apart," Waller threatens, pressing a button on her watch.

That enables the soundproofing of her room as she starts stabbing the witch in her heart over and over again and the Enchantress screams, the lights inside Waller's room starts flickering as the witch's reflection is destroyed and the mirror shatters onto the floor in front of Waller. The heart turns to dust in Waller's hand and she claps her hands together to rub off the excess dust. She looks down and watches as the dust and mirror shards vanish,

"At least the bitch cleans house well," she said, taking the frame of the mirror off her wall, and sticking it on the ground below it, next to the case that used to contain the heart.

She picks it up, deactivated her fingerprint and wiped off the scanner with a special no-trace solution, she keeps in her pocket.

She sets it back down as she returns to her desk, turning on her sound and opening up the blinds. She would have kept the Enchantress longer, but people were starting to get suspicious of her intel and she couldn't afford to get caught, especially not with her goal so in reach she can practically taste it.

She pressed a button on her desk phone and the young receptionist answers,

"Yes, Director Waller?"

"Send up that intern, I need someone to take care of some files for me."

"I'll send her up right away Director Waller."

She glances at the metal case and frame, and pulls out her phone, dialing a number,

"Hey, Zsasz isn't it? There's an intern by the name of," she rifles through her desk drawer, and finds the business card with the students' name on it,

"Jessica Peterson, John told me that you handle packages, the ones that were living and can no longer remain that way?"

"Yes."

"She lives at 1624 Raytown Avenue," she said, reading from the card, "I need her taken care of tonight, kill the girl however you want, just make sure the house is burned down. Speak to John so that he can handle your fee."

"Consider it a done deal."

She hangs up the phone as the young girl knocks at the door,

"Come in."

"Oh, Ms. Waller, Kelly told me you wanted to see me, I just want to say, I am such a big fan of your journey, I mean...you are truly an inspiration."

Waller simply smiles, and walks over to her,

"Well, Jessica, everyone has a story, but if you're going to succeed at A.R.G.U.S. you're going to have to really dig your heels into the ground.

Show us that you're really willing to do whatever is necessary to get your seat at the table."

"I am, Ms. Waller, I promise."

"Glad to hear it, and here's your first task, take that frame, and that suitcase and take it to your home. If anyone asks you, I let you keep it in my room for an art project you were working on.

And I'll answer all your questions tomorrow morning, okay? Do this, and you're as good as hired."

The girl is giddy as she takes the frame and case in hand and makes her way out of the office,

"You won't be disappointed Ms. Waller, I promise--I won't tell a soul, thank you, Ms. Waller, thank you so much."

She smiles as the girl leaves the office, happy as a clam, and she exhales and walks back over to her desk. Waller didn't mind Jessica, she seemed like promising youth, shame that she was just in the wrong place at the right time.

Waller couldn't afford anyone finding out she'd kept the Enchantress's heart, at least not until she got her hands on that Book. Sacrifices had to be made, and Amanda Waller would make them by any means necessary.  
_____________________________________

"Are you sure you're up for this Harley, I mean, we'd all understand if you just wanted to sit this one out," Ivy asks, looking at me with a worried look in his eyes, Frost and Feline walking along on my left, nod along with Ivy, agreeing.

"We all know what it's like loving someone you can't have, and Joker doesn't know how good he'd have it with you, you're still the baddest bitch alive," Feline adds nudging me in my shoulder.

"Seriously, Harley. If you need time, we could circle back and you could stay at my place, the reinforced steel doors in my freezer would keep you safe, jackass wouldn't be able to get anywhere near you," Frost adds in, and I force a small smile of appreciation.

"I'm fine guys, really," I lie, they all look at me, and exhale, knowing I was fooling no one, I decided to take a different approach. I smile,

"Okay, I'm not fine, but I'll get over it...eventually. Besides! We're about to go have some fun, rob a lab, collect some coins, I'd say my nights already looking up, wouldnyathink?"

I wrap my arms around Feline's neck and jump onto his back, he hooks his arms underneath my legs to make sure I didn't fall,

"I just need to throw myself into my work, that's what regular people do right? Clock in extra time? Well, killing people, stealing things, and making money are my three favorite things.

If anything's going to keep my mind off of Mist--I mean...Joker, it's killing a few guards, and getting the adrenaline pumping," I say, leaning into Feline's neck. Frost shrugs, accepting my answer,

"Alright, well, it's only about a block away, the back's only got about two men guarding it, four at the entrance, and sixteen in the inside. No meta's insight, so this should be a piece of cake," Frost says and we all concur.

Ivy looks at me, and even though I was riding on Feline's black, pretending I was going to be okay, Ivy gave me a look that only Ivy could give me and I just shook my head. He nodded, knowing that now wasn't the time.

We still hadn't gotten a chance to talk about what happened between us, and Ivy knew that a few dead people wasn't going to help me through the pain, but he was resigned to wait until later. It'd only been a few hours since Ivy and I left his home after his fight with Joker.

He looked so furious at Ivy, so vengeful, and I was just so scared of what they might do to each other that the fear just kept my heart racing.

We may have been headed towards the outskirts of Gotham, but I knew that if Mr. J wanted to find me....he would and nothing would stand in his way...not even my friends. I knew the three of them could handle themselves if Joker tried another sneak attack, but I don't know if I could.

He'd only spoken to me for a few minutes and as strong as I thought I was, I was desperate for him, regardless of what my mouth was saying or my actions, everything inside me was aching to be back in his arms.

So I had to distract myself, had to keep my mind occupied, and this was the only way I knew how. Right now, my friends are who I needed, because they'd hated him long before he broke my heart, so they'd keep me away from him, they'd keep me my head on straight. Or I suppose in my particular case, crooked at the very least.

"Now you're sure it's not one of those crystal things like a few years back, no offense Harl's but I'd rather not take another trip down the asylum walls again," Feline says, hitching me up a little.

"Don't act like you didn't have a hell of a good time," I say, laughing as I grind my crotch into Feline's back and he smacks my thigh to keep me still, I just resign to sucking on his earlobe.

"No, I heard some news roaming around when I was in Central City about a guy looking to hire a crew to steal some sort of pendant, it's non-mystical, so none that Freaky Friday shit, and its next stop was Gotham so it was a no brainer," Frost answers, we listen on intently,

"Well as long as that money spends, ah, I'm all for it, there better not be any surprises, oh. Dammit, Harley! Would you stop that?" Feline says, getting fed up with me nibbling on his ear, my semi-hard dick still rubbing against his back.

"Stop what," I say, licking him on his neck and he immediately slides me off of him, as Ivy and Frost laugh,

"You should know better than to let him stay up there that long," Frost adds, smiling as we jog up to the back a little.

"Yeah, that tongue of his is from Satan," Ivy adds on as he chuckles at Feline adjusting himself through his leather pants,

"Well, I don't usually mind it except when we're on the way to a job, how am I supposed to be a badass with a hard dick.," Feline says and I just shrug my shoulders,

"Sorry, I get horny when I'm anxious," I admit.

"You get horny when the wind blows, you're like a sex machine, is there ever a time when you're not trying to fuck something or get fucked by someone?" Frost asks, and I put my finger on my chin, thinking, as we duck behind a dumpster,

"Nope, pretty much 24/7, I'd like to think of myself as perpetually down to fuck, with my lows being at 'lightly turned on," I answer, and they all just roll their eyes as we eye the men a few feet away guarding the back entrance to the museum.

I noticed that there were only two of them, just like Frost said, but something about this whole situation wasn't sitting right with me, something just felt a little off, but I ignored my gut because right now I needed this.

"Alright so Ivy, why don't you just--Harley!" Frost whisper yells at me as I leap onto the dumpster.

Landing silently as I leaped up from there to the railing on the side of the building and used them as money bars until I reached the edge just out of view from the guards and quickly swung myself back and forth.

It didn't take long for me to gain enough momentum to leap off and land on the first guards neck with the force of my landing knocking him off balance, as I twisted my thighs so as to both crack his neck and through the rotation in the air, knock the other guards knees out as he flipped backward on the ground.

I grabbed the gun from the dead man beneath me and used the butt of the gun to knock the other man out. He was out, but I wasn't finished, so after I detangled myself from the man, I quickly straddled him and started to wail on him with the butt of the gun, and watching gleefully as the plastic of his helmet started to crack and his face was becoming more and more bloodied with every blow until he wasn't struggling anymore.

I wasn't finished, so I just kept going until Feline came up and pulled me off him,

"Alright, alright, we know you're pissed, but you'll have plenty more people to kill once we're inside okay," he reasoned, and I looked at him looking around wild-eyed as the adrenaline hit my system, my blood was pumping and I was ready to have some fun.

I nodded and they looked to each other as Frost walked up toward the door and placed his hand on the doorknob, his hands misted over and the knob froze over as he crushed it in his hands, breaking it free and opening up the door,

"That was easy," Frost said, looking to Feline, Ivy, and I suspiciously,

"Yeah, a little too easy, I mean, if this thing is worth that much money, where's the alarm?" Feline asks as the four of us walked into the completely dark room. I was mentally preparing myself for the battle, my hands were shaking, my body was on fire with the intent to kill, but there was no one.

No sixteen guards, no guns, no anything, it was silent inside, too silent.

"Guys, I don't have a good feeling about this, Frost, who'd you get that intel from again," Ivy asks and before Frost could answer, the entire floor was an electrical impulse that sent a shockwave through the bodies of all four of us, lighting us up from the inside, the pain was visceral.

I watched as Ivy tried to summon his vines, Frost tried to cause a freeze over, but their powers like their bodies were going haywire, and in that confusion, the men in all black suits came rushing up towards us meta cuffing Ivy and Frost and snatching up Feline, turning up the voltage just a little to knock him out and that's when I realized that it wasn't the floor, it was the lines of the tasers that they'd sent towards us.

The floor only lit up because it was a conductor, it was all metal, this wasn't a normal museum floor, this was something else.

The men had tried to grab me but I'd already flipped backward, grabbing the head of the man behind me in a headlock and used his body to roundhouse kick the man to the right of me. Unlike my friends, I was used to working through this particular type of pain, Joker and I kept things spicy in the bedroom and this was one of his favorites.

The other men were trying to subdue me, but I was cartwheeling around them, pulling my handgun from my boot, before I could fire, three other men had already gripped my hands and started to up the ante, using their tasers as well.

I tried my best to fight through it, but it was becoming too much but before I passed out I did manage to break one of their legs and that's when one of the men punched me square in the jaw. That punch coupled with the onslaught of electricity running through my system caused me to go completely unconscious.

Whatever was happening, there was no fighting against it, they had us, and I had no idea what was about to happen next.

____________________________________

**_One Month Before the Fight_ **

I was lying in one of the infirmary beds at Arkham Asylum, the Bat put me here after she'd helped patch me up from the fall I'd taken during Mr. J's fury. I should have known better, I was trying to do something nice for Mr. J, I was trying to stop the Bat, he'd been so busy these past few weeks, so angry, so I wanted to make him happy somehow, so I thought the best way to do that was to get rid of the Bat. That did not make him happy.

I lured her to an abandoned building and had her strung up over a piranha pit upside down. It was one of Mr. J's failed attempts at trying to kill her, but I added a twist, and I told him when he got there that I had her upside down so that the piranhas would look like they were smiling, I thought he'd have a hoot, but instead, he was furious with me.

 _"If you had to explain a joke to me, then it isn't funny!"_ He screamed at me, the memory so fresh in my mind as he pushed me down the stairs of the building and I fell about two stories down and landed into a couple of boxes filled with packing foam.

It didn't kill me, but I was beaten up pretty bad. The Bat broke herself free from my rig, and she'd picked me up and took me here. She didn't say anything to me, not a word, but the way she looked at me, even with her mask on, there was nothing but pity in her face, I could tell even without seeing her.

I wanted to struggle against her, I wanted to try and fight, but I was too badly hurt so I just let her take me. She dropped me off here and while the nurses tended to my wounds, I could hear the guards prepping my cell. They'd left a few minutes ago and so I was just there alone with my thoughts, and that wasn't helping me.

They'd had me strapped down to the hospital bed, knowing that I'd probably try to break free, and they had a security detail on me just outside the door, I wasn't going anywhere.

"It's your fault," I said to myself in the empty room,

"You didn't get the joke."

That's when the tears started to flow a little, ceasing only when I heard the door creaking open, the guard's face covered by a mask and I quickly turned away from him. Whoever that guard was I didn't want them to see my face, I heard the swishing sound of what sounded like water in a pail, and I just kept looking away, maybe they'd sent the guard in here to clean me up.

I heard someone else close the door behind him and I just winced, I didn't want whoever it was to see me cry. That's when the guard approached my bed and stopped, I heard him lifting the pail and immediately I closed my eyes thinking that he was going to ask me to turn around, instead, he'd throw the contents of the pail on top of me, bathing me in what I now knew wasn't water at all.

It burned and I screamed a little as the searing pain covered my body for a split second and instantly it was all gone. I looked down at my skin and watched as the bruises started to fade and the bloodied marks on my body started to close up and my body was starting to feel back to normal again.

I turn my head to look at the guard whose face was covered by the black army green helmet and I looked closer and suddenly I heard the rapid-fire of guns beyond the door and watched the guard as he pulled his helmet off, it was the Joker.

I looked down at my now exposed body, the acid from ACE chemicals having burned away parts of my hospital gown and Joker crawled on top of me, and looked me in the eyes,

"I just--I need you to--don't do that again. I lost my temper, but...you have to understand, The Bat, is my problem, my sparring partner, my entertainment.

I don't want her dead, I want her very much alive, and I want very much to keep torturing her, do you understand that?" he asks.

I nod fearfully, staring at him back and his eyes waver,

"I don't want to kill you, but if you fall out of line again, you will be disciplined. I made a promise to you, didn't I? A promise to never hurt you in only one way, the one way that you would never forgive me for right?"

I nod again as my answer, knowing exactly what promise he was referring to.

"Well I need you to make one final promise to me, okay?" he continues, I cock my head listening. 

"The Bat is mine. The only time you go after her is under explicit orders from me. She is to be wounded beyond combat recovery and she is to never, ever, under any circumstances, be killed.

She's my Sam, and just like I told you I'd leave him be, you have to do the same for me, do I make myself clear?" he adds, his voice cold and searing.

I nodded quickly, reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck tightly, my full strength having returned from the acid bath.

"I'm so sorry puddin'. I didn't know, I'll never do it again, I'll never hurt her again, I promise. I didn't know Mr. J...I didn't know," I cry out the tears flowing from my eyes.

He breaks his cold demeanor and pulls me into his arms, lifting me out of the bed, as I wrap my legs around his waist.

"It's okay, it's okay," he says, holding onto me just as tightly as he walks over to the door, and sets me down, handing me my clothes back and dressing me as he places my two favorite handguns in my boots.

He pulls me close by my waist and I look at him teary-eyed.

"I thought you were going to leave me," I admit, my voice barely a whisper.

"No. You belong to me. I won't let you leave me. I don't believe in breakups. If you want out, there's only one way...in a coffin," he threatens, his eyes full of delicious danger and I smile, my eyes turning deadly as I grab his crotch pulling him to me and he smiles back, as I lower my voice,

"Vice versa, only in your case, there wouldn't be anything left to bury."

"Keep it up, and I'll fuck you so hard you'll be nothing but a puddle of need and desperation, aching from exhaustion," he says, loving the threatening nature of my obsession with him, his dick hardening in my grasp.

"Oh Mr. J, we've got all night for that," I say, kicking open the door leaping onto the unsuspecting guards back and rip his ear off with my teeth and spit to the ground in front of Mr. J.

"Fuck, you're so fucking hot," he says as I wink at him, cartwheeling down the hall onto the next barrage of guards, and he followed right alongside. He just stared at me in awe of how violently I was killing them all.

He may never say the words, 'I love you', but I can read it in his eyes, he feels it, I just know he does. As we sliced and shot our way through the guards and escaped Arkham I leaped onto his back and he gave me a piggyback ride to the getaway car the two of us laughing up a store as the chaos ensued behind us.

Just then I'd remembered something, Mr. J's birthday was coming up soon, it was only two weeks away. No one knew when Mr. J's birthday was, he never talked about it, never even brought it up, and I knew why, his parents were Jehovah's Witness, so he was raised never having celebrated a birthday.

Well, that was going to change, his parents may not have seen his birth as a cause for celebration, but I did. I smiled to myself as we got into the van and the goons sped us away, Mr. J was going to have the best birthday ever, I was going to make sure of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Now_ **

"Harley...Harley...Harley!" I hear someone whisper yell at me and I am slowly turned to my side, too tired to actually make a move to get up or open my eyes.

"Just five more minutes Mr. J, huh, juss...just...five more minutes," I whine out groggily, holding onto the hard mattress tightly, trying my hardest to get comfortable, but for some reason, my wrists felt like they were held together.

"Harley, it's me, wake up," I hear the voice say a little more firmly and I slowly opened my eyes, my vision becoming slightly clearer as I make out the hazy form standing in front of me.

It was Ivy, dressed in what looked like a shock white prison uniform, the same outfit they usually gave inmates at Arkham, but this wasn't Arkham, that much I knew from the moment my vision went from hazy to completely clear.

I quickly tried to stand up but was immediately met with resistance from my legs. I looked down and noticed that there was chain-linked metal cuffs locking them together, along with a brace-like cuff on both of my arms binding them as well.

I looked at Ivy and he was wearing the same, the only difference was the fact that he had green blinking dot at the top of it,

"Meta cuffs?" I asked, Ivy, nodded and rolled his eyes, conceding to sitting down at the edge of the single all-white mattress that complimented the all-white room with a terrifyingly sterile feel to it.

The harsh, fluorescent lighting in the room we were in feeling like something straight out of a horror movie, and not being able to move my limbs and Ivy's lack of powers made the situation that much more unnerving,

"What happened?" I ask, cracking my neck, trying to jog my still foggy mind.

"I have no idea, one minute we're breaking into the museum, the next thing I know I'm being shocked and cuffed, and then I wake up here, with an itchy neck and lying in the bed next to you. Fuck!" Ivy screams,

"I should've known something was up, this was just too easy, too much money, and too much opportunity, this whole thing was screaming trap and I just...how did any of us not figure this out."

"I don't know, but when we find out who did this, fucked with the right bitch," I said, standing up and once I found my balance, I jumped to the top of the railing that was on my bedpost.

"Harley wait!" But before I could heed Ivy's warning I was already using my hands as leverage against the rails as I used my feet to try and kick open the air vent I noted the moment I woke up. 

Once my bare feet made contact with the metal, I was immediately shocked and lost my balance, dropping to the bed beneath me roughly,

"Ow."

"The door, vents, and cuffs are triggered by sensors. Try to break free from them or the open anything and zap, you're static shock," Ivy said, his annoyance very present and very unamused,

"Trust me, when I saw you lying there I was immediately trying to break us out or at least break these open to try and help you, turns out they planned for both of us, whoever did this knew exactly what skill set we were working with."

"I don't get it, this isn't any ward of Arkham I've ever seen, and they dress prisoners in orange, not white, and shock sensors? Either Gotham got a huge pay raise, or we're not in Gotham," I answer, assessing the surroundings.

"Nope, not Gotham, that much I can feel, even with the cuffs on. The soil beneath us is different, so are the plants' voices, we're a good ways away from Gotham, at least a few hundred miles," Ivy responds.

"Outside of Gotham? Central City, maybe? Didn't Frost say something about getting the info from someone there?" I continue, trying to narrow down where we might be, the room around us providing no hints to where exactly we were.

"Maybe, maybe not, it's hard to tell. I wish he was here so we could ask. You don't think it was one of them do you?"

"No, the people that took us were electrocuting all of us, not just me and you, besides, I saw them trying to fight back before those men knocked me out, I swear if I see their fucking masks again I'm ripping their fucking throats out with my teeth!" I scream to the room, knowing there had to be a camera in here somewhere.

I slam my cuffed hands against the metal door to which, like Ivy warned, sent a shockwave through my body and sent me stumbling back to the bed I'd woken in. Furious, I screamed out again,

"Is that the best you got you son of a bi--" I start again, trying to run toward the door and getting another shockwave sent through my body at my second attempt.

"Fucking pussies! I'll fucking kill--" another shockwave hits my body before I even reach the door and I'm on the floor as the wave maintains its current for a few seconds, and finally stops,

"Alright...point taken," I say, realizing my effort was futile.

"Told you," Ivy sneers.

"You will be dealt with soon. Until then stay neutral, otherwise, we'll put you under again, Quinn," the clear voice of a man booms in the room from what sounds like speakers.

I get myself up from the floor and sit on the bed facing Ivy, he just shakes his head, the anger obvious in his eyes.

"I shouldn't even be here," Ivy says, leaning back to lay down in his bed.

"Neither of us should be," I add mirroring his actions.

"No, I said _I_ shouldn't be here," he says, his voice with a hint of a bite at the end of it, I lean back up, keen to hear what Ivy was referring to.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I ask.

"I didn't stutter, Harley."

"Oh, so you're blaming me for this, tell me Ivy, just how is any of this my fault, any at all?" I respond, my voice rising from frustration.

"Because! It's always you Harley, I should be with Nick right now, we should be together, we should be holding up some chemical plant or tearing down those huge power plants cutting down our forests, but no, my dumbass had to stay back, my dumbass had to love you, and now look where that got me?

Stuck here, in God knows where? No powers and no way out. So yes, Harley, I'm blaming you!" he screams.

"I didn't ask for you to risk your relationship to save my life, you did that?! You made that choice!" I scream back.

"Yes, yes I fucking did, and you want to know why, Harley? Because I fucking care about you, I care whether you live or die, so yes, if I have to move mountains to save you, that's what the fuck I'll do because that's what real family does.

They make sacrifices for the people they love, but I guess you wouldn't know the first thing about real love now would you?"

"Oh, so you're Mr. Perfect huh? Last time I checked Joker _nearly_ killed me, but you were _actually_ killed the man you loved, a married one at that, so bitch don't act all high and mighty, you're just as lovesick as I am" I snipe back and Ivy's eyes flare green with fury, and he's up on his feet.

"Well at least when I realized he was a murdering asshole I killed his ass, but you, oh you see attempted murder as delightful foreplay between lovers. He's tried to kill you so many fucking times and what does your crazy ass keep doing?

Running back to him, 'Mr. J, Mr. J, please take me back, I'll be good this time.' Get it through your fucking head, he doesn't fucking love you and he never fucking did, how's that for lovesick, bitch," his voice like venom.

"I know!" I scream out in what I hoped was anger, but it came out in a broken scream. I tried my hardest to stand firm, but the tears were already falling down my face and Ivy's fury was immediately quelled at my reaction.

As angry as he may have been, I could tell he knew he went too far. I sat down on the bed in a huff, trying to pull back the tears, but they just kept coming,

"I fucking know, but I can't change the past Ivy, I can't--I can't change the sacrifices I made to be with him."

Ivy gets up and sits next to me, unable to touch me he just nudged me with his shoulder and I leaned my head down onto his shoulder, and he laid his head on mine.

"I gave up everything to be with him Ivy, not just me but...but any chance I had at the future I wanted to have."

"What do you mean?"

"Those chemicals really did a number on me," I laugh a little, through the pain in my heart, "I don't know what I expected, I mean the chances of me surviving were slim, let alone not being affected totally, just like Mist--Joker."

"Affected?" he asks.

"Well, I guess with all the things I've done, the people I've killed, this shouldn't be that much of a surprise that this happened. I mean, I don't know what I was thinking...that he and I could...I don't know...have a family together.

It was stupid, a stupid dream, an old one...I always wanted a family. But the sacrifices we make, sometimes...sometimes they get to ya," I say, slipping into my Bronx accent, hoping that it might quell the loss in my heart.

"Harley, what did...what did he do to you?"

"I was okay with everything Ivy, the whole thing, all I needed was that one thing, that one thing I asked him not to do. As long as he kept his promise, it didn't matter how much he beats me, how much he yelled, or how many people we killed together, he was enough. I was okay with my decision.

And then...then he did it. He broke the one promise he told me he'd never break and everything just came crashing down on me. And now I'm stuck like this..." I said, covering my crotch with my cuffs and Ivy leaned away and looked at me, and I averted his gaze.

"The trains can leave the stations but there are no passengers aboard," I say, my voice dreamlike as I tried my hardest to suppress the lump in my throat. Ivy looked at me and looked down at my hands,

"Harley...are you sure?" he asks, and I nod.

"Totally sterile. Got it checked by a doctor, I thought he was lying, so I shot him. When I checked the results myself, turns out, he was right. It's completely and totally irreversible. I couldn't have my own kid even if I wanted to, my boys aren't working anymore.

I don't know what I expected, huh? Karma's a bitch ain't it, no boyfriend, no freedom, and no kids...ever."

"I'm sorry Harley," he says, his face soft, and I just smile shaking my head,

"No worries, wouldn't be a sacrifice if it didn't hurt, right? An even better one if the person you made it for doesn't even realize what you gave up?" I say, forcing a laugh, and Ivy just looks at me, knowing that even beyond my forced chipper voice, I was hiding a lot of pain behind it.

The door starts to open and Ivy and I are immediately brought back to our reality, the men come in wearing all black and before either of us could react they quickly overpower us, and grab us by the arms, manhandling us out of the door.

I tried to fight back but the men had me held tightly, it was no use, at least not until I got a little more leverage on the man behind me, he was holding me by the arm and he was only an inch or so taller than me.

His gloved hands had grip to them, but they were rubbery, sort of slick, all I needed was a second of him flexing his hands and I could--

My thoughts were immediately interrupted as I saw two more groups of men pulling Frost and Feline toward us too, they looked just as confused as Ivy and I.

There was one other person, a man I'd never seen before being brought along with us as well and I watched as they lead the five of us into another room, as the men all found a way into a militarized formation, closing the door behind us in this new all-white room.

The men all stood in a line, with Ivy, Feline, Frost, me, and that other guy being held next to each other by the men standing just behind us, they all waited patiently, four of them holding briefcases. I looked around and noticed that there were a few changing curtains around the room and I wondered briefly what they were for.

Suddenly, heard the door parallel to us crack open and the man holding me loosened his grip a little, a reflex no doubt to wanting to stand at attention to the authority about to come in the room.

It was only an instant, but it was the instant I needed to gain enough leverage to lift myself upwards a little and head butt the man with the back of my head. At that moment he stumbled backward and I quickly lifted my arms to pull his neck into the crook of the chains connecting my cuffs together and used his weight to flip me over behind him.

While in the air I twisted my arms so that my arms were crisscrossed and the man's neck was in a choker's hold ready to snap with a flick of my wrist.

I was grateful that I realized I was double-jointed in gymnastics, it comes in handy from time to time. Before I got the chance though the man who'd entered the room had a red dot aimed between my eyes, I crossed my eyes to see the red flickering line trained on me as the man beneath me was struggling to breathe.

The others hadn't moved an inch as the man who'd walked in just looked at me and cocked his head, I slowly started to twist my hands, the man beneath me was struggling more and I smiled at the man with the gun,

"Oh, glad you came in, just wanted to--you know, test the reflexes of your men," I admit, trying to distract him so I could lift this man up to act as a human shield, the man with the gun didn't flinch, not so much as blinked.

"They're perfect. Want a demonstration?" he asks, and I laugh slightly, untwisting my wrists to release the guy beneath me,

"I can see that Mr. Military Man, A plus all around, he-he," I say, awkwardly laughing as the man beneath me snatched me up and readied his hand to punch me in the jaw,

"Crazy bitch," he starts and I brace myself, but before he could make contact,

"That won't be necessary Agent," the voice of a woman commands, the man immediately lowers his hand and snatches me forward and puts me back in formation with the others. I watch as the stout African American woman walks in, her purple blazer, white blouse, and a string of white pearls giving her an extremely clean look.

She had an air of power coming from her, she practically radiated big dick energy because all the men in the room stiffened even more at her presence than they did the man that had the red tracking line between my eyes.

She was clearly the authority figure in this room, clearly, the one in charge and everyone in this room knew that she was nothing to mess around with. The clacking of her short black kitten heels being the only sound in the room as she stood a few feet away from us.

"Did you really think you'd be able to take them all, especially without any powers or weapons?" she asks, the man behind me pushes against me, I answer,

"I mean, can't blame a boy for trying?" I answer honestly, she was right, there were about twenty or so men in her, not counting the man who walked in and herself. They all had weapons and from the looks of it, advanced military training, I wouldn't have gotten to Ivy in time enough for him to do anything to help, they would have taken me down easily.

"No...I suppose not," she laughs, heavy and loud, then steps down the line, "Killer Frost, class B meta, abilities, cryokinesis, weakness, compressed and direct thermal energy.

Feline, class C meta, abilities, hypersensitivity to sound, advanced sight, retractable claws, and metaphysical regenerative abilities which allow you to cheat death, but not permanently, I believe you're down to life number 3, am I correct, Flag."

"Yes, Director Waller," the man who was holding the gun trained at me a few moments earlier answered.

"Weaknesses, meta dampening collar and general imprisonment," Waller smiled and stood in front of Ivy, who stared daggers at her, "Poison Ivy, class A meta, abilities, botanokinesis, with a standing thirty-yard radius, at a base level and a nearly undetectable cap out.

You are quite the find Mr. Isley, but even you have limits. Strange, tell me, where does your power come from?"

She presses but Ivy doesn't speak, she merely laughs,

"Doesn't matter, your abilities are still meta adjacent and can be detained with the proper formula that contains that mental link of yours. It was tough but we took a page from the Bat's handbook, creating a formula that adapts and shifts alongside your DNA."

Ivy huffs and Waller smiles, as she makes her way to me, standing directly in front of me, smiling broadly,

"And last but certainly not least, Harley Quinn, class D meta, abilities, enhanced healing, strength, and dampened pain receptors, weaknesses, insanity, obsession, and general imprisonment."

"Aww, somebody's been practicing their supervillain speech in the mirror haven't th--" I started but I was immediately shaken by the man behind me into silence.

"Not a speech, an analysis, so that you are all aware of the position you are currently in. For the next 60 hours, the four of you are all my prison bitches. You'll do what I say when I say, and how I say it."

I snicker and Waller looks at me, a small smile drawing on her face.

"Tell me, Mr. Quinn, what about my statement did you find so amusing?"

"Four, lady, last time I checked there were five of us? What about Mr. Tattoos over there?" I ask, the man to the left of Frost looked to me with hate in his eyes.

"It's Slipknot you fucking sideshow freak!" he snaps back at me.

"Ah yes, of course, he has a special purpose," she says, turning to face the man holding Slipknot and he immediately releases him pushing him a few feet away onto the ground, as Flag walks up and stands beside her with a small electronic pad at the ready and presses the screen.

We all look to Slipknot as we hear a muffled beeping sound coming from his neck and a blue dot blinking fast and suddenly his head explodes. The four of us scream out, as the pieces of his head and spurts of blood cover the white room with red.

I blink hard as the blood starts trickling down my face, some of getting on my eyebrow, I lean my head to my shoulder to wipe my eye of the blood and we all looked to Waller who merely, turns, using her white cloth in her pocket to wipe the blood off her face as she looks back at us.

"Tell me, Dr. Quinzel, you're the one with the psychology degree, tell me, what was his purpose?" she asks, I gulp.

"Uh sure, a demonstration of an undesired consequence. You seem to be a sociopathic pragmatist with covert narcissistic tendencies who believes that the ends," I answer, looking to the headless body on the ground a few feet from us,

"Justify the means by which to achieve them. So that, coupled with you calling us your prison bitches, would mean you need us for something and you'd need our specific set of skills to achieve it.

That can't happen with us locked up, and their powers detained which leads me to believe that a form of operant conditioning through behavior modification, punishment, and reward."

Frost, Feline, and Ivy all look to me, thoroughly surprised by my answer, I shrug,

"What? Being insane doesn't erase the eight years of college," I answer their unspoken question, I look to Waller smiling broadly,

"Graduated top of my class."

"Glad to hear it, and tell me, what is the reward and punishment?"

"I'm guessing the reward is our cooperation, and that itchy feeling on my neck must be the thing that you put in his neck that made it go boom, so...punishment equals no more head?" I ask.

"Guess that degree didn't go to waste after all," she smiles, winking at me, and looks to the others,

"I'm sure the three of you also feel a slight discomfort in your neck as well, don't you?"

She asks and the three of them shift uncomfortably as Waller continues,

"I'm going to make this sweet and to the point. You all have a chip implanted into your neck and with one voice command, or push of a button, your head, as Mr. Quinn so eloquently put it, will go boom."

We all look to each other, fear in our eyes as we hang on her every word.

"If I think you are trying to escape, your head will explode, if I see you try to hurt me, Flag, or my team, your head will explode, and if I feel even the slightest chill," she walks to Frost,

"The mere whiff of a claw," she walks to Feline,

"The tiniest movement of any tree or plant life," she walks to me,

"or any display of aggression that I did not expressly permit, you...will all...be put down like the bitches I've made you."

She warns and we all look to her, realizing exactly who we're dealing with.

"The chips cannot be removed and any physical tampering will result in immediate detonation. If I don't enter a code every six hours, they will detonate on their own, just in case you think you might try to kill me or my team to try to escape.

So I need us all to be on the same page. I will not hesitate to kill any of you, you are my bitches to do with as I will and you will obey me or you will die. Simple. Do you understand?"

We all look at each other and not unwillingly, but too fearful to ignore her question.

"Good. Release them," she commands and they let us go, pushing us forward towards her as she smiles and continues, the soldiers collect the body of the Slipknot and start leaving the room in formation.

"In exactly one hour, my men will return to collect you all and we're going to take a trip. I advise getting dressed, the suitcases with your belongings will be left here, and when we leave your cuffs will be unlocked.

This room is under total surveillance and your every move will be watched until you are collected, I see a hint of any of your respective powers and well...I don't really think I have to repeat myself again."

She smiles, snarky and arrogant in her threats, and she and Flag are the last ones left,

"Oh, and we're leaving the pieces of his head, you know, just for a reminder. See you soon, Suicide Sirens."

The door closes behind her and the moment it closes our cuffs open and fall to the ground and I look at Ivy, Frost, and Feline,

"Well...bright side, at least we didn't switch powers again."

They all roll their eyes at me, clearly unamused.   
________________________________________

Joker sat on the edge of his and Harley's king-sized bed and pulled one of Harley's shirts up to his nose, inhaling the scent deeply. The scent may not have been strong but he could still pick up slight traces of it, traces of scent from the man that was currently missing in action.

He heard the telltale scream of one of the A.R.G.U.S. goons they were currently working over.

One of his men had reported that they'd seen Harley and his friends get taken by men wearing all black and loaded into a van with the name A.R.G.U.S. on the side.

Of course, Joker killed the man who decided to report instead of help, being that his only job was to keep tabs on Harley and instead he let him get kidnapped.

However, his intel did give Joker a lead to where Harley had been taken, so he had his other men follow one of the executives' assistants home and brought them in for some violent persuasion.

He'd gotten his men to clean up the mess that Harley left here the night they had their big blow out, he had to get them to put in a new mattress, sheets, and covers.

Blood was so hard to wash out of anything that it's just better to get a whole new thing. So he lay back into fresh covers with an array of Harley's things that he'd covered the bed with and wrapped his arms around all of it, trying his best to take it all in, hoping that the memories they held in them would be enough to quell the ache in his mind,

_"Come on puddin', do it," Harley screamed with glee holding onto the handle next to the passenger side door as Joker revved up the engine. The man strapped to the pole in front of them was begging for his life, his life and Harley was just laughing, encouraging him to ram his white Camaro into the man's body._

_Some average henchmen trying to straddle the fence, working for both sides, Joker and Penguin. Harley figured him out and brought it to Joker's attention immediately. Joker said he'd handle it but Harley wanted to tag along for the ride,_

_"You know, Harl's, they say being a traitor really twists your insides up," he starts, revving the engine up even harder and Harley looks at him, his eyes trained on Joker like a student watching his favorite teacher work. He revved up the engine once more as he stares, hypnotized into Harley's eyes,_

_"But you know what I think baby?" he asks, Harley bites his bottom lip excitedly and Joker shifts the gear into Drive and rams the car right into the man's stomach, hard. The sudden impact jutting them both forward as the man's blood started coating the car._

_Joker, kept the car in drive, forcing the car to push against the man's body and the pole, forcing the man to scream in agony as his body was split into two by the consistent force of the metal car pushing against flesh._

_Joker, finally satisfied backed the car away and watched as the man's insides started falling out, as the top half of his body fell to the ground and his bottom half slumped to the ground. Joker looked to Harley whose eyes were dilated as he watched the glorious spectacle, Joker reached over and turned Harley's face to his,_

_"I think being a traitor shows guts, real bloody guts, don't you?" Joker says, his laughter filling the silence in the car. Harley just looks at him, his face full of what Joker at first thinks is fear and he smiles,_

_"What's the matter? Did I scare you?" he asks mockingly, laughing at what he still thinks is fear he's struck in Harley's heart, but instead of him running away, instead of calling him crazy, Harley does what Joker least expects, he snatches him by the face and brings him into a searing kiss._

_The heat behind it was so intense that it was the Joker who had to pull away to find his breath,_

_"You did...do it again...now," Harley says, his voice full of dark arousal and Joker looks in his Harley's eyes, almost unbelieving. He's dated murderer's before, but for them, he'd always go too far, too gruesome, too scary, but Harley...Harley liked it. It was the first time that the Joker realized he couldn't scare Harley away because Harley...he wanted more._

_He watched as Harley turned the wheel toward the area where the top half of the man's body lay and he looked at me, his eyes hooded over in wicked excitement. Joker watched as Harley pulled his dick out of his pants and started jerking himself off,_

_"Come on baby, do it again, please," he begged, and Joker felt himself stiffening in his pants as he revved up the engine and put the car in drive, running over the man's corpse a second time, stopping only when his back tires were on the man's body, and he put the car was against the wall._

_He pressed the gas and Harley turned to look outside the back and watched as the blood and limbs of the body started flying backward from the force of the screeching tires and started jerking off harder._

_Joker watched him with nothing but hot desire running through him and the moment Harley turned to face him, Joker put the car in park as Harley leaped on top of him, shifting the seat to lean all the way back and ripping his clothes off._

_He watched the man on top of him get completely naked and pull the Joker's dick from his pants. Joker was a willing ragdoll, letting Harley have his way because at that moment Harley was an animal. It wasn't often that Joker let Harley take the lead, but at this moment, he was too turned on to care._

_Harley spits on his hand and rubbed Joker's dick and lined it up to his hole and pushed himself down until he took Joker in all at once._

_Joker was not prepared for Harley to take him that quickly, and that easily, and sure as hell wasn't prepared for how tight and how hot Harley was at this moment. Harley let out a guttural moan of ecstasy and pain and slid his body up and down the Joker's dick and he just watched as his boyfriend enjoyed the ride, only gripping his ass to get leverage to fuck him deeper._

_That was the first time Joker really saw Harley as something special, something different than what he was used to. That was when the Joker knew that he would never let this one get away, not ever._

That was two years ago, and just as quickly as the memory came, it faded and the Joker was back in the present. He was back in the empty room, the empty bed, with nothing but a few of Harley's clothes and things to keep him company, that wasn't enough though. It would never be enough because things can't replace the real thing.

He stood up from the bed in a huff of fury, he had to fix this, he had to get Harley back and he was tired of playing nice.

He bursts through his doors and pushed his men out of the way, they'd done a number on the guy, broke a few bones, beat him up pretty good, but Joker was done trying to reason the old fashioned way, time for a new approach, he pulled the machete from the table up and held it up to the man's throat.

"I'm going to ask you one time, where is Harley Quinn?" he asks, the man just sneers at him.

"I've been trained by the most highly trained--" before the man could finish Joker backed away and slammed the blade onto the man's left wrist, slicing his hand clean off and the man let out a wail of pain as the blood started to shoot out from his wrists, the Joker's men stepping back fearfully, knowing well to stay out of his way.

The man was still screaming and the Joker smacked him across the face, hard.

"That was the wrong answer! Now, I'm going to ask you again, and you're going to tell me, or I start cutting off more and more parts until I have a whole collection for my new store, build-a-man workshop. Where. Is. Harley Quinn?"

The man looks at him and whimpers and revealed everything they needed to know, even helping his men log into the database to find out which one of the scientists implanted to tracking devices into Harley's neck while Joker called up an old friend.

He looked at the man who his men had patched up, by his men and saw him whimpering in fear, it gave him joy, he walked over to the man and grabbed him by the face and waited for the confirmation we needed,

"Found him boss, Dr. Jason Peterson. Worked with Amanda Waller on top-secret assignment, no details on it, but he was the last one on the log to have spoken to her. 678 Lakers Street."

"Good news, for you right? You weren't lying, but I suppose once your bosses find out that their interface has been hacked, won't take them long to sniff out a rat, huh?" Joker says, using the blade and lying it up to the man's neck, he starts begging him not to,

"Consider this a mercy kill, chances are they'd do worse to you than this," and at that Joker slices the man's throat, the blood spraying into his face and covering his clothes.

He wipes the blade on the man's shirt and one of his henchmen give him a cloth to wipe his face. Joker cracks his neck and looks to the man who's not quite a man enter his building, and he smiles broadly,

"Croc," he says, happily, "How's everything going?"

"What do you want J?" the man responds, walking up to Joker with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"Just wanted to see if you were going to honor our deal, you promised you'd always be there when I needed you after I broke you out of Iron Heights, well, consider it calling in that favor," Joker says smiling, KillerCroc just rolls his eyes and huffs,

"Should've known making a deal with you was like signing my soul over to the devil," he asks.

"Well, does the devil offer you meal offerings," Joker says, smiling as he steps to the side and presents the dead assistant to KillerCroc,

"Only dead for a few seconds, early twenties, and let's not forget filled to the brim with fear, isn't that your favorite seasoning? Come on Crocky, please, I'd appreciate your help."

KillerCroc sniffs the air and smiles at the man's corpse, and turns to the Joker,

"Alright J, but after this, consider us even."

"Consider it square," Joker responds telling his men to step to the side as KillerCroc morphs into his creature form, his body expanding and his teeth elongating as his scales appear, ripping through his clothes and he jumps and starts devouring the man's body and Joker looks on smiling and turning to his men, who looked on disgusted,

"Think of it this way, he always leaves a clean plate, less work for you," he says, patting one of them on the shoulder as they all flinch at the sound of Croc ripping through the assistant's bones.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Now_ **

The four of us sat on the small jet, the men in black sitting around us watching our every move. They'd taken off the meta cuffs and released each of us from our respective restraints and the four of us just sat there waiting for Waller's instruction.

We'd been flying for a few hours and it's been pretty silent so far, aside from the coms on the soldiers' uniforms catching stray radio waves every so often, and the hum of the jet going through the air.

I've been watching the men in black very closely since we boarded. I counted twenty-three with the exception of Waller and Flag, I think there were a few women in the mix, seven or so, but the rest were men.

They all seemed to be highly skilled operatives, weapons at the ready, tasers, specialized guns, and various other weapons that I hadn't ever seen before.

The thought of us trying to overpower them has crossed my mind, a few sly looks between Ivy, Feline, Frost, and I made me wonder if we should but we all knew the situation. Ivy took my pinky in his when the guard turned away and I leaned back knowing what he was doing.

I glanced behind his neck and saw the Feline and Frost interlace theirs as well, with Feline locking his other with Ivy, securing our connection.

Because Ivy had a telepathic link to his plants, and Feline had the same type of connection with his cats, they'd figured out that when they connected their gifts they could hear the thoughts of those they touched.

It took us a while to work out the kinks, but Ivy and Feline finally found the right wavelength to hear our most present thoughts, it wasn't exactly walkie talkies, but it was better than nothing, Feline's voice was the first to come into our minds,

_So, anyone got any ideas?_

_None that won't get us caught,_ Frost thought back, looking to the cabin door that Waller was behind.

 _She wouldn't kill us though, not if she needs our powers to do whatever it is that she wants us to do,_ Feline adds.

 _Yeah, but I'm guessing she knows that we prefer to be alive, my guess is, she'd probably kill us one by one until whoever's left cooperates,_ Ivy adds in, and Feline purses his lips, agreeing.

 _I mean there's gotta be something we can do, Frost, do you think you could freeze it out, you know, short circuit it?_ I ask, but I noticed one of the guards eyeing me, thankfully Frost coughed making him divert his attention before he saw where my hands were.

_That's what I've been doing since we got on the plane, every time I try to lower my body temperature, the chip warms up. It doesn't surprise me, she knows our strengths and weaknesses_ _._

_It's_ _the reason why she unlocked our cuffs, she knows were not crazy enough to try to attack them, especially without some way to get these things out of our necks,_ Frost thinks back.

 _Speak for yourself, if we kill them, and Ivy gets a chance to do that sex thing that he does on her, he can make her not kill us, and we can force her to tell us how to deactivate it_ , I propose and the three of them cut their eyes at me.

_It's not a sex thing, it's a concentrated pheromonal scent I emit. Besides, from here, I can only manipulate the people near me_ _._

_And_ _that would only turn them on, I still would have to tell them what to do verbally, and it wouldn't affect everyone, which would mean whoever is too far away would notice and we're dead_ , Ivy adds, leaning back slightly.

 _So what are you saying, we're all fucked?_ I think back.

 _Pretty much, these things are both remote and voice-activated, and I don't know about you guys, but I like my head where it is...attached to my body_ , Feline adds and I roll my eyes, my annoyance very clear by this point.

 _So, we really are her bitches until further notice?_ I think and the three of them answer with a side-eye,

 _Well, whatever she's got us doing, it must be serious, I mean, a team of criminals when she's got a band of badasses already, she must be desperate, I mean look at these guys?_ Frost adds, looking around the room and we follow, and something he just thought stuck with me.

 _That's what I was wondering, I'm sure they've got other metahumans, probably ones that would cooperate willingly, why force us to do it for her?_ Feline proposes.

 _We're her Suicide Sirens, remember? I'm guessing whatever she's got us doing we're not supposed to survive it, I'm guessing we're expendable metas, all the power and none of the recourse. We die, she just gets new ones, there's die, and they have to retrain a new team._ Frost concludes.

 _But there's one thing I don't get. Feline's got three lives left, Frost has his ice powers, and Ivy's the plant king--_ , I start

 _Warrior of the Green_ , Ivy cuts in.

_Whatever, you three have powers, I don't have any, so why am I--_

Before I could answer, Waller came in through the cabin door and we quickly pulled our pinkies from each other,

"We're approaching our directive, so I need you all to look alive. This mission that the four of you are about to undertake won't be a walk in the park, far from it.

The thing we're going up against is not flesh and blood, but something else, something much more dangerous," she starts, her face stoic and void of all emotion.

What she was describing though was starting to raise up memories in my mind, something more than flesh and blood, that descriptor was a little too on the nose and I was hoping that it was just an association issue.

Maybe I was associating a memory with something else, it had to be because she couldn't be referencing who I think she was.

"You see, this isn't a person, more of a being, an essence. He's powerful, he's dangerous and you four are going to take him down and get me a very special prize, for you lives of course, but one of you has already faced him, haven't you?" she continues, walking over and standing in front of me and Frost, Ivy, and Feline looks to me, confused as to what she was talking about.

I look up at her, knowing exactly who she was talking about now, and exactly why I was on this mission with them.

"Would you care to share, Mr. Quinn?" she says, smiling widely and I turn to them, my heart racing slightly as the name crosses my mind, the memory of our last altercation still present.

"Ra's Al Ghul," I answer, and the three of them shift uncomfortably, the slight flash of fear crosses their faces and I understand why.

"You can't be serious, he's too powerful, he's--" Feline starts.

"Weak as of now, still working through his resurrection, I took him down most recently, but someone here has faced him before. No powers, no special skills, just high grade crazy and a whole hell of a lot of balls," she says and I look to her cracking my neck.

"Barely. He almost killed me," I answer, the knot in my throat welling up.

"Yet somehow, a slightly enhanced human, with no supernatural abilities, was able to survive a battle with the infamous Ra's Al Ghul and live to kill another day," she says, her voice filled with slight trace of respect,

"It took the life of A.R.G.U.S.'s most powerful meta to take him down, but you somehow escaped his grasp, nearly unscathed."

"How?" Frost asks, his expression full of awe. In the criminal underworld of Gotham, and pretty much everywhere, Ra's Al Ghul was almost untouchable.

Nobody dared to muscle in on his territory or even attempted to match him in combat, and when he wanted something, every criminal in Gotham knew better than to stand in his way. He was one of the only people that actually made Mr. J nervous because he dealt with the occult and some even believed he held some supernatural abilities.

It was too unpredictable, even for Mr. J's tastes, and as far as anyone knew he couldn't be killed, at least not permanently. An enemy that can resurrect themselves is an enemy that cannot be stopped, and no one wanted to be on his bad side.

Even when he's between resurrections, his people are still a force to be reckoned with, willing to do whatever it takes to protect and save their masters, the deadliest assassins ever trained.

"I got lucky, and I didn't fight him directly. Mist--Joker sent me to get some stupid chalice he wanted to sell, but he didn't know that Ra's was after it too.

It must have been important because usually Ra's just sent some of his followers to do his dirty work, but this time, he came along for the ride. Anyway, long story short, he sent two of his assassins after me, but I escaped them way before he could try his hand at me, still got the chalice but I was hurt...bad.

So no, I didn't fight Ra's, I fought two people, big difference," I explain, leaning back in a huff.

"That's the thing, those 'two people' were trained under him by the League of Assassins, one of the most dangerous team of martial artists in the world, and you faced two and you're still breathing, that alone, is the reason you are here today," Waller concludes, standing back to eye me,

"You may be insane Quinn, but you're highly perceptive, dangerously so. You overpowered Agent Thomson in seconds, chained by both your hands and feet. You are quite the asset Quinn, a wildcard if I ever did see one, and a perfect fit for your team."

The jet started to shake slightly and we all look around, Waller turns to the deck and yells to the cockpit,

"Everything alright?!"

"Sorry, Director Waller, just a bit of turbulence, everything is still on course," the man flying the jet answers back.

"It better be," she threatens and she turns back to us and takes a seat next to one of her soldiers as one of the men from the front pours her a glass of chardonnay.

"Here's the deal. In exactly," Waller looks at her wrist and back to us,

"Ten minutes we're going to be landing on enemy soil, we'll be within a 50-mile radius of Ra's Al Ghul's territory, which means he'll be looking for us, and I'm sure his assassins will be after us.

Your job is to get me, and Commander Flag through to Ra's inner sanctum, should either me or him meet our end, you all will die. So the four of you will act as a...protective bubble while we make our way insid--"

Before Waller could finish her sentence, the jet started to shake more widely, the turbulence becoming more significant and she calls up to the front again,

"What's going on up there?"

"Nothing, Amanda," the man answered, his voice sounding almost dreamlike.

Waller's face is immediately taken aback, my guess is because the way the man addressed her was not formal, she quickly turned to her men, and they all immediately started to move, putting on bookbags which I guessed were parachutes and the four of us looked on as Waller watched the man leave the cockpit and open the door, his eyes completely white and bleeding, along with his mouth,

"Everything will be fine, Amanda. Ra's sends his regards. _Rupti Sunt,_ " the man speaks the words with a hiss and the parachute attached to one of her men bursts,

" _Rupti Sunt,_ " he repeats and another parachute bursts.

Waller catching on immediately pulls out a blade and stabs him in the neck, killing him and keeping him from speaking anymore. The jet was going down, we could all feel it, Feline, Frost, and Ivy were grabbed by the men in black who strapped them to their chests, and a man straps Waller to him while Flag strapped himself to me.

"We'll meet at the rendezvous point, and if the four of you try anything once we land, I'm guessing I don't have to tell you the consequences, will I," she says, and we all nod, she turns to me,

"Commander Flag has a specialized bat in his bag for you to use when you land, Ra's infiltrated our jet, so my guess is he's got assassins already waiting so if you run into any, use it."

"How the fuck is a bat supposed to help me kill them and get to you?" I ask, extremely frustrated with this hectic situation. I may not have wanted to help her, but as Feline said, I liked having my head attached to my body.

"He'll explain, all I know is, if Flag is not alive to get you to get you to the rendezvous, by 0600 hours, you better hope you were all killed by the assassins," she turns to Ivy, Frost, and Feline,

"Try anything, I dare you, my men are the only ones who know the location, don't show up, you die. Oh, and Ivy, their suits are lined with pheromone sensors, one whiff of your love mist will activate the failsafe causing my detonation command to project through the coms.

Tonight, recuperate, but tomorrow we retrieve the package, you all have your objectives. Get the Sirens and I, to the rendezvous point at 0600 hours," she said, pressing a button to open up the hatch, the wind starts rushing into the hold.

"Director Waller, what about us?!" one of the men whose parachute was destroyed, The other man steps beside him, gesturing toward his broken parachute as well.

"A.R.G.U.S. thanks you for your service," she says, before pulling out her taser to shoot them both, shocking them to the plane floor, as they rolled out of the plane with no parachute unconscious from the current.

I look to Ivy who mouths, 'be safe', before his man in black jumps out with him, Frost and Feline look at me nervously too, as they are jumped out.

Flag and I are the last ones off the plane and as he leaps all I could feel was a sensory overload of the rushing wind hitting my face and the adrenaline that was rushing through my veins.   
________________________________________

"Please, God, please stop," Dr. Peterson screams as KillerCroc cut off yet another one of his fingers and tossed it to his mouth and crunched on it like a piece of popcorn. Joker laughs as he spins the man who is currently hanging upside down, strapped to a meat hook at a Butcher's Shop.

"This little piggy went to the market," Joker starts as KillerCroc cuts off another and tosses it into his mouth,

"And that little piggy stayed home," KillerCroc passes over the middle finger,

"But that little piggy had roast beef," Killercroc cuts off his pointer finger and tosses it into his mouth, the man still screaming in agony,

"And this little piggy--"

"Alright! Alright! The password is JXCLLER4, their locations will pop on the screen when you click them, they'll appear but--but you can't deactivate them, you have to be...you have to be within at least a mile of the chips for the deactivation code to work," the man admits, crying out more than saying, he has his men put in the code, it says access denied,

"Another lie Peterson, come now, you have to know better than that, well, I guess that whole little piggy went wee," KillerCroc chomps onto the man's hand,

"Wee," and KilerCroc chomps further down the man's arm,

"Wee," KillerCroc bites up to the man's shoulder and he's screaming in pain,

"All the way home."

At that, KillerCroc snatches his whole arm off, with his teeth and swallows the man's arm,

"The password is JXCLLER4 I swear, I swear! It's JXCLLER4, please I'm not--I'm not lying please," Dr. Peterson screams out, and Joker turns around and his goon puts it in again, and the screen says, access granted. His good turns to him,

"Sorry boss, I thought he said E-E, not just one," he answers, and Joker rolls his neck in frustration, pulling his gun from his belt and shot his goon directly in his temple, he falls to the ground, and Joker turns to the other one in the room, who looks at him frightened as he aims it at him,

"Guess what? You've just been promoted, don't fuck it up, understood," Joker says, the man nods quickly and Joker gestures with his gun still trained onto the new top goon to sit down at the keypad and look onto the screen.

"Where are they?" Joker asks, his patience running thin.

"Somewhere in a forest in Arabia, they were using a private plane with meta tech, they got there in just a few hours, but it would take us at least seventeen hours or so if we go by plane," he states nervously, the Joker rolls his head again frustration, turning to the man who was still bleeding out from KillerCrocs bite, 

"So sorry for the misunderstanding, I do appreciate your cooperation, so for your service," Joker starts, walking over to the man and placing his gun in the man's mouth,

"I won't let him eat you alive."

He shoots him, killing Dr. Peterson while KillerCroc latches onto his leg and begins feeding on him as Joker walks away, rolling his neck with his gun aimed at his own head, walking in a straight line, maintaining his balance as he thinks,

"Hmm, well, we won't be flying anywhere that's for sure, but I need get to Saudi Arabia before tomorrow night, let's see," Joker says, tapping the barrel at his temple and looks up, smiling.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dials a number, after a few rings an annoyed voice answers,

"What do you want, Joker?"

"Klarion, ole' buddy, ole' pal," he starts.

"What...do you...want?" Klarion asks more firmly.

For a young teen witch, in the Order of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, he wasn't quite active in the criminal underworld, so he had to get to know someone with connections, the Joker was his only contact.

The only one willing to work with teenagers, and Klairon has regretted it ever since.

"Well, I was wondering, how's the spell casting going, still able to open portals?" Joker asks.

"I'm hanging up," Klarion starts.

"I don't think you will, if you're still after that Blessed Chalice," Joker states, knowing it would catch the teens' attention.

"You said you didn't have it?" Klarion asks, his voice instantly intrigued.

"I said I couldn't get it, didn't say I didn't have it," Joker corrected him smugly.

"You lied," Klarion responds, his voice, now filled with anger.

"We're the bad guys, Mr. Bleak, that's what we do. Besides, I knew having something a dark witch wanted would come in handy one day. I suppose, that day is today," Joker smiles, knowing he's got Klarion's attention, he hears a huff over the phone, and he knows he's got a deal,

"What do you want for it?" Klarion asks.

"A portal to and from Saudi Arabia," Joker asks and Klarion is silent on the phone for a few moments then he speaks,

"Alright, but I'll need three fresh human hearts, recently killed, and a place to work, it'll take me about six hours to complete the spell, and to collect all the ingredients."

"Six hours?! Any faster?" Joker asks.

"Sure, if you want part of your legs stuck between an astral plane and your head in a parallel dimension," he answers sarcastically,

"This isn't fucking Expedia, you can't book an earlier portal. And round trips take longer, lucky for you, the red eclipse is approaching so mystical energies will be magnified, without that it'd be nearly impossible to open a portal for longer than a few seconds.

Six hours Joker, take it or leave it."

"Fine, fine, don't need to get your brooms in a bunch, meet me at the funhouse in twenty."

"I need the hearts as quickly as possible, they need to be ground into a paste, do you think you can get them?" Klarion asks.

Joker turns and sees KillerCroc about to take a bite out of the torso of Doctor and holds up his hand,

"Can you get his heart for me, we'll need it, you can have the rest of him."

KillerCroc reluctantly stops feeding and starts tearing open his chest to get his heart. Joker looks around the room, counting, one heart with the Doctor, two, with goon number 2, and...

"Wait, I'm missing..." he starts and looks to his new goon number one who looks at him smiling, Joker smiles back, and shoots him in the neck, and he falls to the ground gripping his neck as he bleeds out onto the floor.

He walks over and rubs the man's head, shushing him as he covers the man's nose and watches as he chokes on his own blood. It doesn't take long for the man to stop moving, and Joker gets up.

"Three hearts, ready when you are Klarion," he says, ending the call. He looks over to KillerCroc who places the heart he took from Dr. Peterson on the desk,

"Oh and you can eat them too if you want, or save em' from a rainy day, you know, like Hot Pockets. Or would it be Human Pockets?" he laughs as KillerCroc's form shifts larger to feed on the other bodies,

"Oh, just save the hearts, we'll need them."

KillerCroc shrugs what would be his shoulders,

"You know J, working with you ain't half bad, you really know how to wine and die a guy," he jokes back and latched onto the goons, eating their arms as Joker stands to sit at the desk with the computer.

"What can I say, relationships change people," he adds, smiling as he stares at the screen, Harley's blinking dot flashing and he touches his lips in a kiss and places it on the dot.

"I found you," Joker says, his voice sing-songy as he stares entranced at the blinking dot.   
________________________________________

**_One Week Before the Fight_ **

Joker was having a good day, granted, it was always a good day when he could have what he wanted. And right now he got exactly what he'd always wanted, Penguin out of the equation, for good. He and that flightless bird, the nickname he'd given him, had been butting heads since he muscled in on his deal with the Falcone family when Harley helped him escape Arkham.

He's been trying to get a new deal worked out with Fish Mooney since, but having been trapped in Arkham for too long she started to favor him over the Joker.

Penguin worked out a compromise between the families and brought a temporary peace between them. With that, the Falcone's rewarded him by making him an ambassador of sorts, and with no threat of a battle, they no longer had a use for Joker.

Without the Falcone's backing him up anymore and deals with the Maroni's not even a possibility, Joker had to scrape by to regain the territory he lost when his deal was given to Penguin and it's been a downhill battle since.

Joker's been trying to get him out of the picture for the past four years, but any direct hit from him would be a threat against the Falcone's as a whole being that he was given higher status. The Joker may have been an agent of chaos, but he was far from stupid, challenging one of the most powerful crime families in Gotham was a death sentence, Penquin was untouchable.

That is, until this morning, the day the Maroni's put a hit out on him and carried it out. Someone from the Maroni's sent a package to Fish with the Penguin's severed body part's inside, with a typed note from Maroni's men saying, the time for peace is over.

With Penguin out of the picture, Fish turned to Joker in her hour of need, she'd revisited their deal, renegotiated and gave him a better one, in exchange for him keeping the Maroni's in check. Joker launched an attack and it went off without a hitch, they didn't see it coming in the slightest, and now everything was back to the way it should be.

The Maroni / Falcone Peace was over and they were back at war, and Joker was leading his own miniature army against them. Not only did Joker gain both more goons at his disposal and new territory, but it was all paid for by Falcone's dollar and he was undeniably the happiest he'd ever been. 

He strutted into their bedroom and noted that there was a large briefcase next to their bed with a bow on top of it, he looked around and heard Harley in the shower. He'd snatched off his red clip-on tie and started to undress, he popped into the other bathroom across the hall and started to wash himself off in the sink.

He'd already showered earlier that day, but with everything that happened today, he knew he'd been sweating and just in case Harley was going to lick him all over, which he knew he would, he wanted to be squeaky clean so they could get sweaty all over again. He was ready to fuck Harley senseless tonight, with all his pent up adrenaline and excitement he was going to give him a fucking he'd never forget.

He'd laid on the bed, completely naked, waiting for Harley to get out of the shower, after he'd heard the shower turn off he smiled. Harley opened the door and Joker glanced inside at the misty air coming from the bathroom door and looked to the floor inside, Harley's clothes were bloodied and Joker looked him over.

He was unscathed, aside from the slight bruising and scratches, possibly from a fight. Harley stood there completely naked rubbing his wet hair and shaking it off,

"What happened?" Joker asks, he wasn't worried exactly, he knew Harley could handle himself, but he was intrigued, he didn't know Harley to go after anyone or anything unless he told him about it, Harley looked at Joker and smiled warmly,

"Nothing to worry your naked little body about, just a part of the process, why don't you go on and open your present," he said, his voice full of excitement as he walked over, still naked, and crawling in bed beside the Joker,

"Present? For what?" he asks, not understanding where he was getting at with this,

"For your birthday silly," Harley says, nudging him in the ribs, and Joker looks at him, his face alert,

"How did you..." he trailed off.

"I know, I know, I tortured a few nurses, killed a few doctors, but I finally found out when your birthday was since you wouldn't tell me," Harley answers.

"I didn't tell you for a reason," Joker started, his voice starting to hitch in anger, the memories of his past fogging his mind, unclear with the jumbled memories he'd manufactured.

"I know. I just...puddin, you've never had a birthday party before, never had someone care about you enough to celebrate the day you were born, and it's not a good day for you...I get that, your birthday's never been a great day, but I wanted to change that for you. Just...just open your present," Harley asks, and Joker just looks at him, his expression annoyed, and Harley bats his eyes,

"For me puddin' just this once."

Joker concedes reluctantly and pulls the long silver metal case from the side of the bed, throwing the bow to the side. Harley sits on his knees, giddy with excitement and Joker rolls his eyes as he opens the case. He'd expected to see a few knives, maybe a gun or a rifle, or something he'd probably already seen or could buy if he'd wanted it himself.

But what he saw truly left him in awe, because inside the metal case was the severed hand of Penguin, still clutching his umbrella gun behind a class cover and Joker's breath hitched as he looked to Harley whose expression darkened.

He reached over and pressed a button inside which flooded the case with acid, burning both the hand and the umbrella, leaving only a slushy like residue inside and he closed the case and slid it back to the ground before laying down next to the Joker who was still sitting crisscrossed on the bed in shock.

"Had to get rid of the evidence, don't want the Falcone's tracing it back to us, now do we?" Harley adds, adding a sly laugh before Joker turns to him, his face still expressionless.

"But...how?"

"Wasn't really that hard, posed as one of his men, his chef specifically. Killed him and took his place and poisoned his food with a high-grade muscle relaxant, Joker venom adjacent, wouldn't want the Falcone's medical examiner to catch it now would we.

Then it was a waiting game after that, trashed all the cameras, destroyed all the recording devices, and played a little game of hiding the body parts after I chopped him up of course," Harley began and Joker just listened with awe of a child.

"After that, played a game of Guess Who and got one of the Maroni delivery trucks to ship his body to a Mooney's warehouse. Since I knew the peace treaty was standing, I knew that they did shipments back and forth from each other so I just intercept and empty package and let their delivery system do the rest.

With Penguin murdered by what Mooney would automatically assume was the Maroni's, being that chopped up bodies were their main method of intimidation, I knew that she'd expect this to be the first call to war. That would lead her to you, which would lead you to make the 'second strike' in retaliation."

"That's why they were so surprised, why they didn't prepare," Joker said, the realization becoming clear in his mind.

"And with that, Maroni's would simply assume that the Falcone's made the first strike, and fire back, thus starting a new war, with neither side really knowing who threw the first punch and not trusting each other enough to ever try to figure it out.

That treaty was a bit finicky as is, call it the last straw on the camel's back. Only this time, there is no Penguin, only the Joker left as the main man for Fish, which now makes you as of today, untouchable," Harley concludes, leaning back against his pillow, smiling proudly and Joker just looked at him, still in awe. This was beyond a great plan, this was...this was perfect. 

"Why...why would you...why would you this for me after...after I--" Joker starts, but he's unable to finish his sentence, he was feeling something inside, something he didn't like, something that he doesn't ever feel, he felt...wrong.

"After you what? Pushed me down a flight of stairs? What else is new?" Harley responds nonchalantly, shrugging.

"But...but you shouldn't have--not after I--you should hate me...why don't you hate me?" Joker asks, genuinely not understanding Harley's motives and Harley looks at him, cocking his head and at first, he thought the Joker was messing with him, but the look on his face read otherwise and Harley immediately sat up next to him and inched closer,

"I don't know how many times I'm going to have to tell you this before you believe it, but I love you, Mr. J. I love you more than you could ever understand," Harley admitted, pulling the Joker's chin up to look him in the eyes,

"I did this for you, for the little boy who never had a birthday, for the little boy who never got to celebrate Christmas, and for the young man who never got the chance to have a normal life because his childhood was filled with nothing but bad days.

You said it yourself Mr. J, it took one bad day for you to go from being a regular man to being reborn as the Joker, leaving the ways of Castiel, the angel you wished you were behind. I don't want you to have any more bad days, Mr. J. I just--I just want you to be happy. And anyway I can do that, I will. That's all I want...I just want to make you happy."

It was at that moment that the Joker looked into Harley's eyes and knew that this was someone he'd been waiting for all his life. He accepted Harley as someone he wanted alive, he'd accepted the fact that maybe he cared for him more than he did anyone else before, but never...never did he think he'd feel this deeply for someone.

He pulled Harley into a searing kiss, and Harley willingly returned it, it didn't take long before Harley was kissing his way down the Joker's chest and kissing his way down his happy trail.

He'd made it to his dick and in traditional Harley fashioned, deep-throated Joker like it was a walk in the park. He was sucking him with eagerness but it didn't take long before the Joker was coaxing Harley's head from his dick to move lower.

Harley look in each of his balls, sucking on each one, and licking up his scrotum and back down to his balls, Joker, pushed Harley's head down further and Harley happily obliged, coaxing his legs apart as he lifted them into the air.

Harley kissed each of Joker's supple ass cheeks and licked the sides of his ass before dipping his tongue between his cheeks.

Joker moaned as Harley slid his hands to the underneath of Joker's knee caps, holding him open as Harley speared him open with his tongue, sucking, kissing and licking Joker's hole. Joker always loved when Harley did this, it had quickly become one of his favorite acts of foreplay.

Harley had an amazing tongue and knew how to swirl it, but this time, this time he was doing something different, Joker could feel it, something was different about the way he was tonguing him, it was more purposeful, more twirly and the Joker closed his eyes and felt what Harley's tongue was doing....he was spelling something, spelling the same three words over and over again on the Joker's hole.

He was spelling...I...L.O.V.E...Y.O.U... over and over and over again and the Joker was arching back, and moaning Harley's name, and in the mix of Harley eating him out and jerking him off he felt an overwhelming urge for something more firm.

"Finger me," the words left his lips in a cry of passion, and Harley's tongue stopped its assault on his hole.

Joker leaned up, looking at Harley who looked up from between his legs with an expression of surprise covering his otherwise lust-filled face. Joker's breathing slowed down a little because he knew why Harley stopped. Joker allowed Harley to rim him, he even allowed him to grab and tease his ass with his fingers, a little rubbing.

But ever since they got together, the only time the Joker let Harley fuck him was that night Harley almost died, and even then he didn't let him finger him. No...fingering was for the submissive one, the one who was going to be fucked, and Joker was not submissive.

That's why he forced himself to push through the pain when he let Harley fuck him the first time, he'd be damned if he allowed himself to be prepared like a girl. Lucky for him, Harley was pliant, so it wasn't long before the pain became pleasure when he fucked himself on Harley's dick. 

Since then though, neither of them ever brought it up again. Harley enjoyed being fucked, and the Joker didn't want to be fucked again. While there was a pleasure in being fucked, Joker didn't allow himself to really be present when it happened, he just stepped outside of himself to give Harley some reassurance, since he believed that was what he needed to do to keep him.

It was sort of a peace offering of sorts, after seeing Harley almost die, he didn't want there to be nothing they hadn't done together. So even though he was fucked, he was still the one in control, he was still the one calling the shots, he was the one in charge. This was different though, Harley preparing him, that...that would mean that he'd have to trust him, and that wasn't something he was all that good at doing.

But today...today something was different, something changed inside the Joker. Today, after what Harley did for him... he felt like he could trust Harley, and that trust, that feeling was the only explanation as to why his body felt like it was calling to Harley.

He pulled Harley's hands from the backs of his legs and he pulled himself closer, holding his own legs in the air as he looked back at Harley who was still confused, Joker spoke, his voice low and full of desire,

"I said...finger me."

Harley looked at him and cocked his head for a second and smiled at him, his face full of warmth and appreciation. He went back down to Joker's dick first, sucking him, while Harley played with his hole, rubbing it and moving his tongue to lick it every now and then before slowly pushing his first finger inside. Joker willed himself to welcome the intrusion, his body's immediate reaction wanting to push out, but he let Harley in.

Harley's focus on his dick was what he was trying to focus on as Harley slowly worked his second finger in and started to scissor the Joker's hole open.

Joker was in pain at first, he didn't like it at first but he allowed himself to adjust and soon the pain subsided and he could feel Harley probing at the special button inside him that sent him into overdrive.

Harley was massaging it in his hole and Joker felt like he was going to cum and told Harley to stop and he came up from between his legs to look at him,

"I want you to fuck me," Joker said, and Harley's eyes filled with lust as he started to move to the side, remembering the Joker doesn't like to be on his back from the only time he topped him. But the Joker grabbed him with his legs, and Harley looked at him, confused.

"I want you...I want you to take me like this...like I am now," Joker says, his voice barely a whisper. He hated how pathetic he sounded but the truth was...he was scared, very scared. And Harley placed his hands on Joker's thigh and caressed him.

"You know...you don't have to do this if you don't want to. I mean, it's your birthday, and I'd never ask you to do something you're not comfortable with doing," Harley offers and Joker looks at him, looks at the honesty in his eyes and he realizes something.

Harley wants to fuck him, he feels his hard on his leg, he knows that he wants to be inside him and yet...yet he's offering not to do it.

Not to do the one thing Joker's sure he's wanted to do since they'd did it all those years back and that comment, that statement, knowing that even under such arousing, lust-filled circumstances, Harley still wants Joker to be totally sure about what they do next, to make sure that Joker is completely okay with what they are doing, that was why Joker felt like he had to do this.

So he leaned up and pulled Harley on top of him, he kissed them as their dicks rubbed against each other and he looked into Harley's eyes as he lifted his legs and nodded at Harley. Harley looks between their legs and lined himself up to the Joker's entrance, and the moment the head of Harley's dick makes contact with his hole, Joker's entire body tenses instantly.

Decades of toxic masculinity, and ideals of what men should or shouldn't do ran in his mind like a tape on fast forward.

His body was fearful of being taken like this, of being taken laying on his back, he felt so...so vulnerable and so feminine and that's not at all what he wanted to feel. His body was screaming to be in charge, to be the one fucking, to be the one on top, and that was all he could think about presently until Harley came close and kissed him on the lips, so sweetly and so gently.

Joker opened his eyes and looked at Harley, they were so full of love and respect that Joker felt unworthy. How was he worthy enough to be loved as deeply and as completely as the love that was present in the eyes of the man staring into him?

"You are all I want. You are all I've ever wanted. Being with you, it's like a dream come true, you are my dream Jimmy, you. Not the character you play, not the angel, just you," Harley says, placing his hand to Joker's heart,

"I belong to you, Mr. J. I was born to belong to you. You don't have to prove anything to me, even if you don't say it back, just the fact that you considered letting me have you this way, it's enough for me"

Joker hadn't heard his real name in years, hadn't heard someone call him that since before he was the Joker. He'd only told Harley by accident, in passing conversation and he didn't think that Harley remembered it, but he did. And hearing his name said with such tenderness and purpose, it made him feel warm.

He'd always hated his name because he hated that part of his life, but Harley loved it. He didn't just love the Joker, he loved everything that he was, even the parts of him that Joker hated. So hearing his words, hearing Harley's admission, relaxed him. Joker didn't care what his mind was screaming at him, all he wanted now was to show Harley that what he was feeling was not one-sided.

Joker was not a man of words, specifically, words associated with his feelings, so he had to show Harley how he felt, he had to show him in the only way Joker knew how. So just as Harley was about to move away, Joker pulled him close, wrapping his arms around his neck and Harley looked in his eyes.

Joker smiled and pushed himself onto Harley's dick, guiding it inside his hole and once Harley was fully inside him, both of them were shivering in pleasure. He felt so weak like this, his body was screaming with pleasure but his mind was still fighting to get him back on top. He was torn between indescribable euphoria and a very palpable fear of weakness.

Harley looked down at Joker, and wrapped himself around him and kissed him again, still gentle and coaxing. Joker's eyes were sealed shut as he felt the tears threatening to escape. They weren't tears of pain, but tears of fear. He'd only cried once around Harley, and even then, Harley didn't see him.

He tried his hardest to bite back the fear, his body felt so good, but no matter how hard he tried, the fear of his current position was overwhelming. He didn't want to allow himself to feel this vulnerable to anyone and his mind was in disarray as he worked to stay focused, to keep himself from totally freaking out.

To his surprise though, Harley remained unmoved, holding himself still, balls deep in the Joker's ass.

He should be going crazy right now, he should be slamming into the Joker, fucking into him deeply, that's what Joker expected. But that wasn't what Harley did, instead, he just remained still, kissing Joker with feather-light kisses on his lips, his neck, and his cheeks.

Eventually, the Joker opened his eyes after Harley stayed still for longer than a few moments and looked at him and he was met with a gaze filled with such respect and adoration that he knew he was totally undeserving of it.

"There you are," Harley says, gripping Joker tightly, pulling out a little and then back into him again, earning a moan from Joker, who looked at him in surprise,

"I've got you, now. Let me make you feel good."

At that Harley started to pull out a little more and push in again, so gently, not fucking him, but making love to him. He was letting his and Joker's body find its own rhythm and that wasn't going to work with Joker closing his eyes, Harley needed him present, needed him completely in the moment, needed him fully aware.

And he was, Harley was kissing him on his neck, his face, his lips, so tenderly, hungry for Joker's approval to which he gave. Harley's dick felt so good inside him he felt like he was on cloud nine. When Harley fucked him before, it was more mechanical, a sort of get this done to show him you care.

Last time it was a different type of sex, Joker felt like it was more procedural, sort of like, 'here you go, you want to fuck me, there.' Not to say the Joker didn't enjoy himself, it's just that it didn't mean that much, it sort of just happened and he was fucking himself on Harley.

This time...this time...Joker and Harley were both were completely in a moment. There was no one person in control because it was shared now, between the two of them, the shared in their pleasure in a new way. Harley and the Joker were making love, together.

Harley's strokes were long and purposeful, and Joker for the life of him, couldn't explain how he kept hitting his prostate over and over again, eliciting the softest, tender moans and gasps from Joker that he didn't think his body was capable of creating.

Harley's pace never wavered, and soon they were approaching climax, and Joker looked at Harley's face,

"Can I cum in you, please? I want to so bad, but I won't if you're not okay with it. I need to hear you say it, I need to know it's okay," he asked, the pain of restraint in his voice so evident, he was holding back for Joker, he could tell he was on the verge and trying his best to keep his composure.

He'd cum in the Joker before, the first time they did this, so Joker was confused as to why he was asking now, and then he realized, he was worried that it would be different.

Harley was worried that cumming in him in this position would be too much for Joker to handle, and that thought, that mere consideration in his voice broke down all of the Joker's mental walls that remained with a crash, a crash so loud and so absolute that he didn't even realize that the words that were falling out of his mouth,

"Yes...please. I need it, please. I love--I love y--" Joker moaned, stopping himself at the moment of his admission and felt Harley cry out as he came into Joker's hole long and hard, his body spasming in release. Joker, having already been too close released his seed over both their stomachs and his chest, his body quaking with Harley's.

They'd cum plenty of times before, but this wasn't just cum, this was an orgasm, a real, bone-chilling, ringing eared, seeing white dots orgasm.

Harley collapsed on top of Joker, his dick still pulsing inside him and Joker's hole spasming, milking whatever cum was left in Harley's dick inside his hole. Harley was breathing hard and heavy, kissing into the Joker's neck, thanking him. Harley pulled himself out of the Joker's ass and went down to licking up the Joker's cum off his chest and stomach.

Joker was hypersensitive to the touch of Harley's tongue, his body still shaking slightly as Harley brought himself up to kiss him, after licking him clean of his cum. Joker kissed him back, tasting himself on Harley's tongue, and when Harley finally pulled away, he laid his head on the Joker's chest and wrapped his arm around his waist, a smile of afterglow on his face.

"I love you too," he whispered out, his whole being drained as he lay on the Joker's chest, tears streaming down his face, tears of joy as he wrapped himself tightly around his lover and closed his eyes to sleep.

Joker looked down at the man laying on top of him, the man he'd just let fuck him, the man he'd just begged to cum in him, and the man he'd almost said 'I love you' to. Joker looked up to the ceiling, caressing Harley's head, as dozens of thoughts crossed his mind.

What did this mean? He may have stopped himself from his admission before he'd said it fully, but Harley wasn't stupid, he'd filled in the blanks. Joker was the man, Joker was a man, and man, especially not a dominant one, begs for another man to cum inside him.

He knew deep down that Harley would never use that against him, would never consider himself the one in charge, he liked doing what he was told, he enjoyed being the Joker's boyfriend.

He was the right-hand man and he was perfectly content with that, but that didn't stop the Joker's mind from believing otherwise. That didn't stop the Joker from fearing that he was losing control even after Harley just admitted that Joker was in total control.

But Joker felt like he'd been too vulnerable, he'd let Harley in too close because now, part of him was thinking that maybe...maybe Harley was enough.

With Harley in his arms, with Harley in his life, Joker felt like he didn't need power, he didn't need money, and what scared him the most was, he felt like he didn't need chaos, the very thing that has given him his reason for being. With Harley, he felt like he could finally let go, be free, and just live and love him, and part of him wanted that so desperately...needed that.

But love...love was too powerful a thing for anyone to have over him, loving Harley meant that Harley could hurt him.

Harley had the potential to destroy everything the Joker built and he couldn't risk that. He couldn't risk loving Harley, because loving Harley meant that there's one person in this world who could hurt him. He'd killed his parents because they could hurt them, and had done so on several occasions.

He killed them because the power they held over him was too great, the power he gave them by loving them. He won't make that same mistake again. He won't let anyone in his heart again.

He was content with Harley loving him, and he was content with knowing that he cared about Harley deeply and loved having him around. But being in love with him?

Being truly and completely in love with Harley, that was something the Joker could not accept. He had to reassert his control, he had to reassert his dominance, he had to show Harley that even with his admission, he was still in charge and he was still top dog.

Beating him wouldn't work, yelling at him wouldn't do it, the only thing that would hurt Harley would be...and that's when the idea came to him.

Harley told him, a little after they got together, that he would always forgive the Joker, always take him back no matter what, except...if he did one thing. And that one thing was unforgivable in Harley's eyes.

In his mind, if he did that, it would reassert his control over Harley, because if he did the unforgivable, and Harley takes him back again, he'll be back on top.

So that was the best plan of action in the Joker's mind, break Harley's heart so that he could break him back into submission, reminding him that this wasn't a partnership, this was a dictatorship, and Joker was in charge. He was the one who held the power to cause harm, not Harley...not ever.

He caressed Harley's hair smiling, and nudged him a little in his sleep,

"Who do you belong to?" he whispers to him.

"Only you, Mr. J," Harley answered groggily, even in his sleep, Harley knew his place.

Joker smiled because after he does what he needs to do, he'll make certain of that.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Now_ **

I was standing there, nearly completely naked, wringing my clothes out as Flag set up a small tent for us heat lamp that I'm certain was supposed to mirror some kind of fire. Guessing if we'd set a real fire, the Ra's assassins would be able to track us down in the forest.

Flag and I had landed in a small lake and he decided to set up camp here since we were going to need all of our energy to get to the rendezvous point in a few hours.

I stood there, still drying my tight shirt and silently cursed myself because my particular skimpy clothing style isn't exactly suited for chilly rainforest conditions. I stretched a little, trying my best to keep myself alert, and looked into the distance. It was a pretty big forest, and my heart was racing because, with the wide expanse of this forest, there was no way to see if my friends landed.

I tried my hardest to keep myself from worrying but how could I not, the four of us were just pawns in Waller's game, if one of us died during the fall, I'm sure she wouldn't be the least bit worried.

"Your friends are fine, come and sit down so we can go over what's expected of you tomorrow," Commander Flag called me and I turned around, reluctantly coming over to sit next to him near the battery-powered heat lamp.

He turns around having finished setting up the tent, apparently, their technology was advanced enough for them to have pocket tents and other tools that were shrunk down to fit in their suits, not surprising though, it was ARGUS, after all, they were famous for utilizing meta tech and advanced technologies.

He comes over to sit beside me, keeping his distance.

"How would you know? It's not like any of you care about what happens to us," I snipe, he looks at me, his hard jawline flexing with annoyance.

"You're right, I don't care about you or your friends, but Waller sees you as assets, and as of now," he pulls up the pad and shows me blinking dots that each have our names attached to it.

Frost and Feline were near each other somewhere eastward, Ivy was northward, and I was somewhere in the middle with Flag, he turns back to look at the pad,

"They are fine, and as long as they keep doing as they are told they'll stay that way."

"So, that pad thingy can kill and track us, super!" I add sarcastically, leaning closer to the heat lamp, my shirt was still wet, so with the exception of my shorts I was shirtless.

"Yes, but it only works to detonate so don't think you can try to kill me to free you and your friends, Waller's the only one with the knowledge of how to release you," he adds, his voice stoic as he reviews over the screen, a silent permanent scowl on his otherwise twinkish looking face.

He may have been a grown man but under the light of the small heat lamp, and the full moon in the sky, he could still pass for eighteen or so.

"Oh I get it, you're right to be scared," I say and he attempts to catch me off guard pulling his gun to my head but at that very same moment, I pulled the blade from his boot that I noticed when I walked over and placed the tip underneath his crotch as he looked me in the eyes, his face still unmoving, expressionless.

"You know I could blow your head in seconds, without the help of some chip, make no mistake Quinn, you don't frighten me," he says and I lean the blade into his crotch and he looks down, and back at me, not having noticed until now that I was one push away from giving him a rainforest vasectomy.

"As I said, you'd be right...to be scared," I threaten my voice low, leaning into him, "tell me, how attached are you to your boys down there."

He looks at me, and I expect to see him frightened but he just laughs a little and pulls my hand underneath his crotch closer and stares me in the eyes,

"Do it then, stab me in the balls so Waller can murder your friends, you're crazy, right? Tell me, do crazy people value the lives of the people they care about?"

I look at him and purse my lips, on any other day, any other situation, I would have gladly shoved my blade straight through his balls, but this wasn't the day and now definitely wasn't the time.

Reluctantly, I pulled the blade away, and Flag pushed me off as he leaned to sit back down beside me,

"That's what I thought."

"So what do you need me for anyway? Big bad military man needs his mommy to hire him a babysitter," I tease, resorting to playing mind games since I couldn't kill him.

He pulls over the suitcase she said he was carrying and starts to key in the code.

"No, I can take care of myself, she just thought having a human shield would give me a good distraction just in case I needed one. Besides, she knows how much you care about Poison Ivy, which means you'd do whatever it takes to keep me safe until we get to the rendezvous point.

Or she'd force you to watch her blow your friends head off, and then kill you," he says, his voice nonchalant, not even taking the bait slightly.

"Touché, you know, your Director or whatever you call her might be one evil bitch, but I can't say she isn't a boss bitch. She literally thought of everything, I mean the bombs, voice recognition, tracking, she must really want whatever Ra's has, which is..." I stretch out knowing that he wouldn't answer me back, but I still had to figure out a way to get into his head.

There's gotta be something he's hiding, something I'm missing, there's got to be a way out of this situation. 

"Ra's Al Ghul's Book of Lazarus, said to contain spellwork, rituals, and potions that we, with the help of you and your criminal crew, will obtain and use to better the U.S. military's armed forces," he responds, and I stare at him wide-eyed, thinking that he'd lie to me or at the very least make me work for it with a line of specific questioning.

His honesty though was the last thing I was expecting.

"You just...told me that?" I ask, still in shock as to how quickly he'd responded to my very short and not so discreet line of questioning. He turns to me, his face still stoic, void of anything except mild annoyance.

"Yes, I did."

"But, why, I mean, jokes aside but, you're not supposed to tell me stuff like that," I respond.

"No, I'm not supposed to tell unauthorized personnel. You are not a civilian, and you're no longer a criminal, you're simply a tool that A.R.G.U.S. will use and put away when you're needed. 

The only person you'd be telling any of this would be people who are already aware of our current plan of action," he adds, opening up the case to reveal a metal bat with a purple handle, with the inscription good night on the barrel.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, confused as to his blatant honesty was becoming more and more unsettling.

"What do you think is going to happen when we retrieve the Book? Did you think we were going to let you go? That, what? You were just going to be thrown back into Arkham and given the chance to be freed again.

No, you're our property now, specifically Director Waller's, you exist only to serve her now. You are alive because she allows you to be. And when your purpose for this mission has been fulfilled, you'll be put back into your cell to await further instruction," he finishes pulling the bat from the case and lifting in the air as he stands,

"Now, this bat has some pretty advanced technology in it, grade six one six haptic feedbacks, and kinetic absorption/displacement capabilities.

It can absorb kinetic energy from a hit and store it, to use it you simply wait for it to gather enough kinetic force and hit something else for the energy to be released, now if you twist the handle the bat will shift into a--"

"The fuck do you mean, 'property of A.R.G.U.S.'?" I ask, cutting him off and he places the bat down beside him as he looks at me,

"Just what I said, when this mission is over, you'll be turned back into A.R.G.U.S. Then you and your friends, if you survive that is, will be used as we see fit," he says and at that I sweep my legs under his, knocking him to the ground and fling my leg around him to pick up the bat and straddle him with my hands on both the handle and barrel of the bat held up to his neck.

The bat shimmers purple at the force of my push against his throat and I stare him in the eyes and he just looks back, his expression still unmoving, almost as if he prepared for this reaction,

"So if we're all just going to become Waller's permanent bitches, what's to stop me from killing you right now, and just killing myself before she gets the chance," I threatened and he smiles,

"Because, Dr. Quinzel, we had our psychiatrist analyze you and your friend's behavior for years before we decided to take you in. We know what makes that pretty little head of yours tick, and I'm sure with all your credentials you could probably diagnose yourself in this situation.

You know as well as I, that suicide isn't your thing, at least not without the right stimuli, and the threat of head explosion and servitude, not nearly enough, at least, not this soon in the game," he responds, and I'm slowly getting more and more pissed at the smug attitude this asshole was giving me.

I did notice something, he called me pretty which means there may be another method I could try. I pulled away from him and sat down in his lap, sliding the bat to the side, and he leaned up,

"Can you get up now?" he asks, patting me on my thigh.

"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable," I say, drawing out the last word seductively as I press myself against him more. He shifts under me, and pushes me to the side, before adjusting himself.

"Yes. You are," he says, standing up and sliding the bat next to me and putting another clip in his gun,

"You can stay out here if you like, I'm going to rest. I already set up a perimeter of twenty feet in each direction that will go off if anyone tries to get inside. I suggest practicing with that bat, get a handle on it, I need you to be alert and ready.

Ra's will be sending his assassins after us once they realize we didn't die in the crash so you need to know what you're doing."

He turns away from me and opens the tent and I look to him, still annoyed by just how well he seemed to know me, and decided that I had to find some way to get back at him,

"So where am I supposed to sleep?" I ask. He laughs and smiles at me,

"Out here, you need some fresh air."

"What if I try to kill you in your sleep," I threatened again, trying my best to try to incite some type of emotion from this man who showed nothing. The one thing I hated more than being laughed at is when people are arrogant.

"My tent is open, and I will be fast asleep, and insane or not, even you wouldn't risk Ivy's life, would you, Quinn?" he added before going inside and closing it up behind him. I wanted so badly to smother him in his sleep, slit his throat, shoot him in the face, and all that was becoming a much better idea the more I thought about it.

For the next few moments that was all I could fantasize about, was killing him but I hated that he was right.

I hated that he knew that as much as I wanted to kill him, as much as I wanted to get away, he had us at a stalemate. If I killed him, the four of us were sure to die, and at least if we're together we could figure out some way out of this situation. I picked up the bat and inspected it, tapping the barrel and seeing the pulse of purple cover the barrel like a ripple of water.

Suddenly it started flashing purple, and I placed the end cap of the bat on a rock and watch the rock crumble underneath. I smiled.

"Not bad...not bad at all," I said and I drug my new toy by the handle in the dirt and stared at the tent where Flag was sleeping in. I couldn't kill him, that much I knew, at least not yet, but I could fuck with him. He seemed like the classic repressed military man, having to bottle up his feelings and desires to be the best in class.

From how Waller seemed to dote on him, he had to have been top of his class, which leads me to think that maybe he didn't really have much chance to express himself or hang out with people because he was always studying.

His stony demeanor was just a mask he was wearing, using it to hide his emotions but when I was sitting in his lap I saw him tense up, there's a chink in his armor. A chink that I can slide right into and I smiled, lifting the bat to drape across my shoulders. Then the idea came into my mind. 

If I can't kill him, at the very least, I could manipulate him, or get him killed by Waller. How would she react if she found out her subordinate didn't follow orders. She was a woman of action and didn't seem to be one who dealt fairly with her men acting out of character. So...it was time to get him to act out of character.

I slipped inside, setting the bat down, watching him in the dark. I looked at him, lying face down in the dark on a pillow he'd had at the top of his sleeping bag. He'd taken off his vest and was only wearing his black camouflage shorts with his gun lying next to his hand, ready to fire.

His face was still visible and in the darkness of the tent, I could still make out his attractive features. I may have wanted to kill him, but I couldn't pretend like he wasn't my type. He was fit, with a tight butt, and a cute face, with a jawline so strong he could cut diamonds. 

I came closer to him and leaned down beside him, as I sat down on the ground next to him. He was sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep and I just slid down to his belt loop on his pants.

I held my face next to his supple, firm buttcheeks and caressed them slightly, smiling deviously as the blood started rushing to my dick. He wasn't wearing a belt so the next part was easy.

I carefully slid his pants down, his white briefs, which were clean and white which confirmed that I was good to go for this next part. He was military after all, so cleanliness was next to perfection for them. I slid his briefs down as he shifted slightly in his sleep, but he returned to his deep breathing.

I highly doubted that someone as well trained as he was would actually remain asleep especially with a known murderer sleeping within a few feet of him. He was definitely pretending, but he wasn't stopping me so I took that as a sign that I was good to go.

I licked my lips tentatively, as I slowly peeled off his briefs, staring at the tight ass that was looking mighty tasty. It's just something about a clean man's ass that really gets me going, granted, Frost was right, if the wind blows a certain way I'm horny. But ass, it was something special.

I kissed each of his taunt, muscled cheeks, and they stiffened, as he clenched his butt muscles, possibly assuming I was going to try to finger him or try and fuck him. Silly straight boy, always assuming gays go in for the kill off the bat.

No...there were much more exciting ways to kill someone with sex, and I preferred to take things, slowly, very slowly.

I licked the crack of his ass, slowly, letting him feel my breath as his cheeks started to relax slightly. Oh yes, he was confused now, I could feel it, this was his first time and I knew it from his grumbles of confusion. I ignored him as I started to slowly tongue in between them, licking the light smattering of hair that lined the inside of his cheeks, asking, and I felt his cheeks relax, fully.

I thumbed between his cheeks and spread him open as I dipped my tongue inside swiping his pale hole with the tip of my tongue, moaning as I made contact with that tight ring of his asshole.

"What are--what are you--oh fuck," he stuttered out, surprised by my sudden contact with a part of his body that I'm sure he'd thought was immensely private.

Straight boys never really think of their assholes as anything more than an exit, and I was sure that my sudden tenderness towards something he'd never thought of as a pleasure center, was definitely disorienting. He started to move but he stilled himself when I flattened my tongue and licked his hole more firmly a second time, making sure he couldn't hold a shred of doubt in his mind...I was definitely licking his asshole.

I breathed against his hole, the warmth of my breath sending a shiver down his spine as a reluctant moan escaped his throat and that was my cue. I licked my lips and went in for the kill, making a feast of his deliciously clean asshole, licking and licking until he was moaning beneath me.

"Fuck," he whimpers against me as I devour his hole, pulling out all the stops to make sure he's in heaven right now.

I wanted him to enjoy this because I wanted to see the look on his face when his boss kills him for being such easy prey. It was definitely his first time because he had no idea what to do or how to react to this foreign sensation. He was trying to speak, gripping his sleeping bag sightly, his toes curling as he moaned out, croaked out his appreciation.

I could tell he was at a loss of words because how could he describe how good it felt having me tonguing his hole, especially when the pleasure of having his hole toyed with had never crossed his mind before. Straight men truly are missing out, and this one, he was definitely feeling what most felt when discovering something new about their sexual desire.

A single thought that I knew was passing through his mind, the very same thing that passed through my own when Sam rimmed me for the first time when we were teenagers,

_How does this feel so fucking good?_

His reaction was visceral, he was squirming and moaning, I could see his hands scrambling a little, opening and closing, moving towards me and them backing them away. It was as if he was having conflicting responses to what I was doing to him, part of him wanting to pull my head away from a part of his body that I'm sure no one has ever seen, let alone licked.

But there was the other part, the stronger part of his being, the instinctual need to lean into things that make us feel good. I could tell that he wanted to push my tongue deeper into his ass, fuck himself on my tongue, but he wouldn't let himself because it scared him how much he was enjoying it.

This was primarily the reason why Ivy liked fucking straight guys, some have never seen their assholes, let alone let someone put their tongue near it, but after a nice long shower, and Ivy's skillful tongue, Ivy opens their Pandora's box, and they discover a whole new side to their desire that they would have probably gone their entire life never experiencing.

His hole was so small, tensing around my tongue as I tried to push and push against it. Finally, he relaxed enough for me to spear into him, really getting my tongue beyond that ring of muscles, into his hole and he cried out a little, as I started really showing him what he'd been missing.

He was a puddle, as I tongue fucked him with purpose, jerking myself off in the process. Just because it was all a tactic, didn't mean I wasn't enjoying myself too. Afterall, rimming was my favorite pastime. I turned him over on his side, pulling his briefs the rest of the way off.

I draped his left leg over my neck and I dove my tongue in deeper, his hole finally compliant with my tongue's intrusion and he was so deeply pleased he was no longer forming coherent words, just moans, and guttural grunts of pleasure that his militarized steeliness couldn't hide.

He was gone now, completely taken over by the massive amount of pleasure I was giving him.

Finally, I made my way up to his taint, to his balls and finally pulled his leg off so that he was lying on his back. I kissed his thigh, dragging my tongue up his surprisingly large shaft and took him into my mouth. He was a solid seven inches which my mouth was happily able to accommodate, and while jerking myself off, I started to blow him.

He brought his left hand up to my neck, letting it rest there as I bobbed my head up and down on his dick. He threw his head back in ecstasy, groaning loudly as he looked back down to watch me suck his dick.

I was graceless, after all, sucking dick isn't supposed to be cute, it's supposed to be sloppy, and he seemed to be very appreciative. I sucked his dick hard, making sure to take him in deep and fully, relaxing my throat to take him in down to the base.

He was enjoying himself, that much I could also tell from the moaning, which was getting more vocal, so I knew he was approaching orgasm. I started to speed up my rhythm even more and he reached over with his left hand, to jerk me off, switching hands so that his right hand was on my neck and his left hand was jerking my dick, as I started to suck him more vigorously.

"Fuck!" he screams, which ends as a whisper, as he cums down my throat to which I began swallowing.

While I loved eating ass, swallowing cum was another favorite of mine, and he sure didn't mind providing. He dick was releasing load after load of cum, and I eagerly swallowed down, cumming into his hand from the taste filling my mouth. I swallowed everything his dick gave me, and it was a lot, no doubt backed up from days or maybe even weeks without sex.

He leaned back, pulling his hand with my cum to his mouth looking at it for a moment, contemplative. To my surprise, he slowly pushed his fingers into his mouth, sucking my cum off.

I get up and look at him, a very satisfied expression on his face as he looks at me, and breathes deeply. His post-orgasmic high was only for a few moments and then he slid back into his briefs, pulling his pants up and goes over to the side.

He lays out another sleeping bag, I look at him confused as he lays back down looking at my expression and letting out a small laugh,

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"I just ate your ass and sucked your dick, and you're just acting like this shouldn't be a big deal for you. You fucked one of your prisoners?" I say, not believing his nonchalant attitude still.

"Oh, that? That was awesome, thanks a lot for that. I mean I expected the blowjob, half expected you'd want me to fuck you but that?! Phew!

I mean I've had great sex before with some pretty hot girls, but damn, I never even imagined having my ass ate?! You gay guys sure know how to take care of a guy. I don't think I ever came that hard before," he admits, smiling as he leans back his hand behind his head and his hand on his stomach, smug.

"Expected?" I ask, not understanding.

"Of course, it was your plan to try sexual manipulation right? Or try to use this as some sort of bargaining chip? A, 'I won't tell if you, blah, blah, blah.'

She figured you might try something like that, which is why she asked me to be the one to take you," he says, his voice matter of fact and I was fuming.

"So what, you just knew I would try to sleep with you?" I ask.

"Yeah, that's your thing. Besides, you really think I didn't hear you sneak in, albeit, when you started pulling my pants down, I thought you were going to try to fuck me, that's why I started moving.

But when you licked my crack, I was confused, but I wanted to see what you were trying to do and then that tongue, fuck man, that tongue is a gift from God! I should've been fucking with guys a long time ago," he said, his voice almost dreamlike.

"You're not gay? But I thought--" I start, genuinely surprised that I read the signs wrong.

"No, not gay, but after that, definitely questioning, wouldn't mind getting my ass licked again, and cum, it didn't taste as bad as I thought. In fact, you tasted pretty good, it was weird, I don't know why I licked it, but I just felt like...fuck it, carpe diem, right? After that though, I think I definitely might be bi," he laughs a little,

"Anyway don't feel bad Doc, they trained me to throw off the right signals, you know, 'pretty little head', and the whole, 'my tent is open' bit. Besides, we know that you and Ivy have a thing for manipulating guys, he's not crazy enough to try sexual manipulation, especially without his pheromone guarantee.

You, on the other-hand definitely would. You could tell her if you want, she'll already know, nice try though," he adds, looking at me smiling. I raise my eyebrows and purse my lips.

"Son of a bitch. You guys are good," I admit.

"We're the military special ops dealing with supernatural threats, metahumans, and assassins...we're the best. Besides, you work better when you cum, don't you? Unless you need another. I could fuck you if you want?

You know, see if I'm really bisexual, I mean after all that, I think I definitely should explore more of this whole gay sex thing" his voice arrogant and part of me had a slight sense of respect for them. They did plan for everything. I still wanted to kill him, but I couldn't lie, they were good...really good.

"Kiss my ass," I snipe at him, turning to lay down on the sleeping bag he pulled out for me.

"I'd rather fuck it, but your choice I guess. Get some rest, Quinn. Next time, try to kill me when you actually have a chance at surviving," he adds, turning over to sleep, his gun still in reaching distance.

"Don't get mad when I take you up on that offer," I add one last snipe and then he drifts off to sleep.

I was upset, I'm not going to lie, I thought I had him, but he wasn't wrong, this whole situation did stress me out and I do work better when I cum. I wasn't going to get much sleep, I knew that much, but I definitely know I need to be at full strength to keep this man from dying.

As much as I'd love to throw him in an array of bullets or knives, he was my ticket to staying alive and keeping my friends alive. So reluctantly, I allowed myself to rest, knowing that when I awoke, things were going to get really bloody and extremely violent.

Ra's assassins were nothing to play with and if I was going to survive to fight another day, I needed every ounce of my energy to take them on.   
__________________________________

**_The Morning of the Fight_ **

Mr. J sent me a text to be on the way home, apparently, he wanted to talk to me about something. He's been acting strangely for the past few days, slightly anxious, and from what I could tell he seemed to be watching me a little more closely. He was acting as if he wanted to tell me something all week, and now he was ready to do it this morning.

I never even considered the idea before today, the idea that Mr. J and I might be anything more than just boyfriends, but after that night, after what we did together on his birthday...things changed.

We'd been together for four years now, through thick and thin, and his birthday was the first time he'd ever come so close to telling me he loved me, the first time he'd come close to letting those three little words I so desperately wanted to hear come from his lips, slip through.

He was vulnerable with me, and that night was the first time since we got together that I topped him.

Things were changing and I think...I dared to think that maybe they were changing for the better. He's just been different these past few days, different in the best way. And I couldn't help but notice that maybe, just maybe he and I may be making the next step.

He'd told me to rob a few jewelry stores, he'd often tell me to pick out things I liked so he could tell the other men to get more of that. Mr. J wasn't a man of jewelry, he mostly sent me out to get money or artifacts, but since his birthday last week, he's just been different.

So much so that when he sent me the text to meet him in our bedroom, my heart was racing with anticipation. I'd already told Ivy to be on the way, he reluctantly agreed to come. Mr. J and Ivy had an agreement, Ivy would never come to Mr. J's warehouse, and Mr. J would never come to Ivy's home, it was a truce of sorts.

If either of them came on each other's property they'd face the consequences, whatever they may be.

They both even took certain precautions, Ivy got me to get a little of Mr. J's blood to let his plants recognize Joker's sent in any circumstance, and Mr. J had his men cover his grounds with pesticides that would deaden the soil and keep any plant life from growing around the warehouse.

But this would all change today, I could just feel it in my bones. Joker was changing and I could just see it now, him down on one knee, asking me to be his one and only.

I needed my best friend there to see me, to be there for me and hopefully, make peace with my new fiance. It was happening, now was the time, I could just feel it. There was a pep in my step as the guards standing in front of the warehouse respectfully greeted me and held the door open for me. I walked down the dimly lit pathway, a giddiness in my stride.

But my smile slowly started to fade away as I heard the familiar sounds coming from our bedroom.

There was someone else in the room with him. Mr. J and I agreed that he could sleep with other girls, and I had zero issues with that, but we also agreed that we would never sleep with anyone else in our bed. I rolled my eyes, annoyance now covering my face, I knew that today wasn't the day Mr. J was going to be proposing to me.

He was still working out his feelings by fucking yet another bimbo, so I just shrugged my shoulders and turned to walk back out, pulling my phone out to text Ivy nevermind.

I was still going to curse Mr. J out for bringing one of his bitches to our bed, but it wasn't that much of a problem, because I loved seeing him fuck girls too. I was a fan of watching him fuck, just as much as he was a fan of letting me join, time and again.

I wasn't a huge fan of pussy, but it was serviceable when Mr. J's dick was in my ass, or he was fucking a girl, missionary, while I kept my tongue deep in his ass. So it was safe to say that I wasn't averse to it as I once was. I'd thought momentarily about joining him and whatever girl he was fucking, and just before I could send the text to Sam, letting him know he didn't have to come by, I heard a sound.

It was a very distinct and very masculine sound coming from that room, and it wasn't Mr. J's voice or groan. I know his sounds of pleasure, I knew every single grunt, moan, and yelp that came from that man's mouth. I know it like the back of my hand.

I know every possible, feel good, sound that his body could make, so when I heard this other sound, this new sound, my body was frozen in place. I turned my head and started to walk slowly back to the bedroom door, my mind was completely still and completely silent so as to make out the sounds more clearly.

It couldn't be what I think it is, it just couldn't be. I had to have heard something, there were always a few screws loose in my head, that much I knew. I know I was not all the way together, I know that I wasn't exactly sane by the textbook definition and hearing voices wasn't exactly something new for me.

But this, this wasn't in my head, this wasn't a figment of my imagination or some hallucination I created as a way to torture myself, this was reality.

The sound I heard was specific to that of a man, but that man was not mine. My heart was racing now, for a whole new reason, the blood was pumping through my body at alarming rates, I could practically hear the rushing 'whooshing' sound of my blood pumping in my body, my heartbeat being felt and heard through my ears as I approached the door.

The sounds of two distinct moans of pleasure coming through the door as I turned the knob and opened it. The sight I observed made my stomach drop so hard with pain, I thought I was going to throw up.

What I saw was Mr. J, fucking a very willing and very pliant Braeden, missionary style. The door to our bedroom faced the left side of the bed and they were on top of the sheets, so there was nothing left to the imagination. Braeden's eyes were screwed shut in pleasure as he screamed out that he was cumming, as Mr. J fucked into his hole harder, following behind him.

Braeden's hands gripping Mr. J's ass cheeks as he moaned through Mr. J's orgasm.

I was a statue, staring at the sight before me, Joker's hair limp from sweat, the green strands covering his eye as he whipped them out of his face looking at me, still fucking into an overstimulated Braeden, slowly, drawing out any last remnants of pleasure from Braeden's body he can get. Joker turned to me smiling, slightly, his expression proud as I stared at him, the slight buzzing of my phone vibrating being the only thing to catch Braeden's attention.

He turns to me, a slight smile after his post-orgasmic high,

"Hey, Harley, Joker said you'd be joining us, I'm up for a round two?" he asks and I didn't answer.

I didn't even bother looking at him because I was still staring at Mr. J. My phone was still vibrating, it was Sam calling probably, a reminder of what I was dumb enough to believe. The phone slipped from my hand cracking on the ground before me, I didn't want to cry, not in front of the Joker, not in front of Braeden. I just...I couldn't.

Joker looked at me, his smile wavering for a moment as I stared at him. Braeden looked at Joker, and then to me,

"Harley, are you--are you okay? You told me this is what he wanted," Braeden admits, pulling himself away from the Joker whose expression was almost impossible to read as he stared back at me, no longer smiling.

Braeden tried to call after me as I turned away, closing the door behind me. I could feel him getting up through the door and proceeded to pull up a chair against the doorknob, locking them inside. My mind on autopilot as I walked down the hallway, completely void of all feelings except heartache.

I could hear Braeden bamming at the door, asking the Joker what happened, and he was silent and unresponsive.

I walked outside and told the guards to leave, they looked at me strangely, but being that they feared me just as much as him, they wouldn't dare to disobey. I wanted him stuck in there for a few minutes, long enough for me to get away, long enough for me to work through what I was going through, long enough for me to process the betrayal.

Ivy was standing at the outskirts of the warehouse grounds, his phone up to his ear, rolling his eyes as he sees me walking toward him,

"Harley, I've been calling you back to back, you could have at least--" he starts, but he notes the expression on my face and his annoyance is immediately quelled,

"What happened?" he asks.

"He broke his promise," I admit, my voice barely a whisper.

"What promise?" Ivy asks, having never heard me speak of the promise we made the night after I broke him out of Arkham. I'd only told him the basics of Mr. J and I's deal when it came to monogamy. Now it was time that he knew the whole story.

"He could fuck any girl...any girl he wanted. I accepted that. I could fuck any guy I wanted...as long as he approved them first. We agreed...but...I made him swear...I made him swear that I was the only man he'd ever fuck. Ever.

He said it didn't matter, I was the only guy he'd want to fuck. That was special. Even the threesomes we had with guys...I was always the one fucking the guy while he fucked me. He'd let them suck it, but that was always as far as it went and it was only...only if I was there. But he'd never fuck them.

He'd never fuck another guy except me. He promised," I admitted, my voice quiet and disbelieving, Ivy came up to me holding me by my shoulders.

"What did he do, Harley?" he asked, his voice firm and full of quiet rage.

"I thought he was going to propose...I thought he wanted me to pick out a ring, I thought....I thought wrong. That's why I called you. But instead...instead he was in there, fucking him, fucking Braeden.

Braeden was touching him, Braeden was touching what was mine and I didn't give him permission to. He was touching and enjoying a man whose dick and ass were only ever to be touched by me. I was the one who got to enjoy him. I was the only person who was supposed to know what his dick felt like.

Me. No one else. Braeden...Mr. J...they took that from me. The one thing that was mine...they took it," I continued, an emotion rising in my head, rising in my body.

"No, Harley, Joker did this and you know it. Braeden wouldn't do that to you, he cares about you. He wouldn't fuck Joker unless he was sure you were okay with it. He's not that kind of person Harley and you know it.

He knows how much you love him, he wouldn't do that to you. What did he say?" he asks.

"He was angry at Mr. J, he said...he said Mr. J told him this is what I wanted," I answer, but my mind was already made up.

"You see, this is what I mean. He's manipulating people, he knew what would break your heart and he did it anyway. Can't you see that now?

Can't you see that he's bad for you? Braeden was just a part of his plan, a way for him to get at you, a way for him to hurt you," Ivy reasons, but I couldn't hear him anymore, the hate in my heart was too strong, to all-encompassing, something had to be done.

"He'll pay for this, they both will," I threatened, my voice low and menacing.

"Harley, this isn't Braeden's fault, this is the Joker's. You can't go after Braeden, he had nothing to do with this," he tries again, but I was past understanding, past reason, I was on a mission now.

"I'm going to fix the problem, and Mr. J and I, we'll...we'll talk. We'll...we'll figure it out," I say, trying to work through my plan in my head.

Trying my best to figure out what it was that I was going to do and how I was going to do it. My heart was broken, but it was broken because of what happened, if I remove what happened, if I remove the only other man that knows what it feels like to be fucked by Mr. J, then I should feel better, then things should go back to normal, I had to believe that. I just had to.

"Why do I feel like you 'fixing the problem' might end with someone getting killed? You know if you kill Braeden it won't change what Joker did.

You'd be killing someone that has nothing to do with you and Joker's problems. You need to let him go, Harley, you need to--" he starts.

"Why? So you can have me to yourself?" I snipe at him, and Ivy steps back from me and cocks his head.

"Excuse me?" he asks.

I could've stopped there, I could've just let it go, but I was so full of hate, so full of rage that I needed something or someone to take it out on and Ivy was just...there. I didn't want to say what I said next, but I did because I was just so full of pain that I needed someone else to hurt just as bad as I was hurting.

"You want to break us apart because you want us to get back together. Fucking you isn't enough for you is it, Sam, no, you want me all to yourself, you want me crawling back to you because you know Nick can't give it to you the way that I can.

You miss me and you hate him because he has me. You're jealous of us, of him," I let the words fly. Not meaning it, but saying it because I wanted to cut Ivy with my words, and cutting I did.

"First of all bitch, I don't give a fuck how hurt you are, you won't ever talk to me like that, you're skating on some really thin ice. Second, if I wanted you to myself, I would've killed Joker a long time ago, but I didn't, you want to know why, because you chose him and I respect that.

I did love you like that once, and you do fuck me on occasion, but make no mistake bitch, I'm not jealous of Pennywise, I was worried about my best friend being in a relationship with someone who couldn't give a shit about his emotional or physical well being.

But I guess being a crazy bitch and all, that could probably translate into your fucked up head as jealousy," he says, his voice full of venom too, clearly hurt by what I'd said.

"Don't get fucked up Ivy, call me crazy again, and watch what happens," I threaten, walking up to Ivy whose face is unmoving a full of stoney rage as I clenched my fist.

"Let me say it again so you can hear me properly, lay one hand on me you _crazy_ bitch, and all that best friend/brother shit goes out the window, and by the time I'm done with you, you'll be picking your face up off the ground," he meets my stance.

His pupils pulsing outward to cover his entire eye black as the roots from the trees on the outskirts of the warehouse start crawl their way towards him, waiting. I clenched my fist tighter, and I let them go and look at Ivy shamefully as I see his eyes return to normal, the tree roots start to recede as a single tear falls from his eye.

"I know you're only saying this because he hurt you. And I know you'd never actually try to hurt me, but words still sting...fuck you, Hartley," he says, turning his head away from me and starts walking back up the road, toward his house which was within walking distance of the warehouse.

"Ivy...Ivy wai--" I start, trying to follow, but the tree branches extend, manifesting thorns to black my path to him momentarily, a warning that now wasn't the time to try and reconcile. I step back and the branches recede as well, and I watch my friend walk up the dirt path to his house.

I wanted so badly to go after him, but he was right, words...once they are out in the world...they can never be taken back. I just hoped he could forgive me, but right now, I had to take care of one problem at a time. Which meant dealing with Braeden and Mr. J.

They betrayed me, and now, they had to pay for it. I'm Harley fucking Quinn, and it was time that both of them remembered exactly who the fuck they were dealing with.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Now_ **

"Fucking, bitch!" I scream out slamming my bat onto the ground and waiting for the metal to shimmer purple as I slapped the young assassin who'd kicked me in the face with the end of it, crushing their skull upon impact.

This was starting to get on my nerves and from the looks of it, the fighting was simmering down anytime soon. It had been a go since the moment we woke up two hours earlier, with one of the assassins sneaking near our tent setting off the alarm Flag placed, and we've been fighting our way through this forest ever since.

The moment we kill one, two more would find their way to us, and between protecting myself and watching Flag's back I was getting more and more ticked off. Being that I was forced to protect him and we'd never fought together, it was hell trying to coordinate our fighting styles but after the first hour or so, we'd found a way to at least get through without dying.

Two more assassins came out of the trees and landing near us, Flag and I stood back to back, with his guns at the ready.

"How much longer before we get to this fucking rendevesouz point," I start, using his back to flip me over, catching the other assassin by surprise as I slam my foot into their face, using the bat steady me. When the assassin gathered their bearings again, I'd already kicked them a second time in the chest propelling them backward letting the endcap of my bat land harshly on the ground to steady me again watching it flicker as it gathered energy.

The assassin had charged toward me and I'd backed away, slipping onto Flag's back again and he pushes me to the otherside to slam my bat into the other assassin's chest, crushing it, and he slits the other one's throat, we eye each other again to make sure we'd taken care of our respective targets.

"Because I don't know how much more of this shit I can deal with right now?" I finish, running up to his side as he pushed his way through the forest.

"You'll take it for as long as we need to, we're just a few feet away, the other teams should be nearing us soon," he added and just as we make our way through a brush of trees I see Ivy, Frost, Feline, and Waller come through to the less forest area, with Waller's men escorting them through.

My eyes were lit and I quickly hugged Ivy as Frost and Feline came up to join, making a group hug. But it was cut short by Waller's command,

"Enough," she says, her voice stern and we let go and look to her, nearly forgetting the situation that we were in. Her lips are pursed as he looks to Ivy who stares at her with quiet rage,

"The time is now, just beyond this marsh is Ra's warehouse, but it's guarded, with some of the most dangerous assassins in the world. So you all will be serving your purpose now. Ivy and Frost, your job is to clear out a path to the entrance, we need a straight shot to the front of that building to get in.

Feline, Ra's has four jaguars and three leopards sprinkled throughout the courtyard, keep them occupied or turn them against his own men. And Harley, you and my remaining team's only job is to act as a protective barrier between Flag and I and those men. If either of us dies, you all die, understood."

We reluctantly nod, figuring that there was no use in battling it out with her, I watched as her men started reloading their weapons and preparing for the coming battle and Waller looks to Ivy,

"Alright Ivy, give Feline a lift, he's first up," she commands and Ivy looks to the marsh in front of us waves his hand across it, slowly opening the plants hiding the warehouse, I look forward and watch as Feline is lifted up into the air and soon the gated warehouse in front of us was coming into clear view, standing tall with masked men and animals all looking through, watching and waiting.

"Frost, Go!" she commands, and Frost flips forward, freezing the fenced path, shattering the gates upon impact as the men started coming after us and it became an instant frenzy. Feline flipped off the vines Ivy lifted him into the warehouse courtyard and missed the gunfire by centimeters as he landed perfectly on all fours near the suddenly uncaged jaguars and leopards, smiling as his eyes turned to slits and he hissed, commanding the animals to go after the tamers. 

Disoriented, many of the men scrambled around, trying to kill Feline, but he'd evaded them gracefully leaping between them as he slit their throats, clawing as he stole their weapons, shooting the ones trying to kill him.

Ivy and Frost were up now, as they'd made their way through the gates, Waller's team and I acting as a barrier like she said, waiting for our chance to get through. The guards were still protecting the front entrance and we watched as some of them used what looked like abilities of their own, some throwing fire from their mouths, others controlling the sands in the courtyard, turning the fine sand into sharp glass, attempting to cut Ivy and Frost.

They'd both readied themselves though, they had a mission, and just like Feline and I, we weren't trying to die today, under any circumstances. Ivy was up first, being that he was surrounded by nothing by the forest, he tore through several of the assassin's with ease, stringing them up through their chests and bodies, and wrapping some in his vines only to summon thorns to rip through their bodies. Frost was sending ice daggers from his hands, riddling their bodies with ice darts.

The path wasn't exactly clear enough yet, but Waller had already commanded us to start moving and we went inside. Her men stood little chance trying to get through, the assassins, already killing two of them on the way in, thankfully, the bat Waller had given me absorbed all kinetic energy so I swung it in a sideways "S" formation, the bullets rippling off, and bounding back to their origin, killing some wayward assassins.

After a third of Waller's men were killed and only me and one other was left to defend the two of them I called after Feline who'd coming flipping over, having gotten through the assassin's easily with the help of Ra's animal, apparently his assassins weren't the only thing that Ra's had enhanced. Feline came bounding over, taking out what looked like an upgraded whip that glowed purple, spinning it in a circle, blocking the coming fire from the bullets.

He winked at me as I looked over at his new toy,

"Looks like you're not the only one who got an upgrade," he quips, shooting one of the guards, and I just roll my eyes, as I fling my bat to one of the assassin's legs who'd run up to try and kick me in the face, crushing it totally, as I took his gun from his waist and started firing at the onslaught of new guards that were coming up and I looked and realized that they seemed to keep getting back up,

"Why do they keep coming back, it's like their not dying?!" I scream out, watching as Frost freezes one solid as he came roundhouse kicking through the hair, shattering on the ground as Frost's freeze caused him to lose inertia.

"That's because their not Quinn," Waller answered, her face contorted in focus as she fired after the men coming after them,

"Why do you think we had you all audition with Binate, these aren't human assassin's, their supernatural reanimated corpses, the closer they are to the base, the quicker they regenerate.

Unlike Ra's, they hold no will of their own, they just kill and kill until he directs them otherwise, an army of perfect soldiers to do his bidding."

"Audition?" I asked, slamming my bat against another assassin's ribcage.

"You mean that was you?" Ivy asks, putting together what Waller was saying as he summoned one of his Venus flytraps from the ground beneath a horde of about three assassins' having broken through the vines he had through their chests.

"Yes, we need to get to this entrance before Ra's men overpower us, so you four better figure out something! Fast!" she commands and we don't even get a chance to react to what she'd said before Ra's men started getting more vicious and faster, the closer we got to the entrance of the building.

Frost's clenched his fist once we reached the front his eyes flaring white,

"Everyone duck!" he yelled.

We all followed his command as he clapped his hands, a pulse of ice mist, knocking back the assassins all at once, sending them flying backward. Ivy was the first up, having summoned a few trees from the soil below blocking off the path while we backed nearer to the entrance.

Frost knelt down suddenly, seeing that some of the assassins were trying to get through the trees as Ivy made them rise and slammed his hands down onto the ground below.

A frosty ring of ice started to form around us all, stopping at the sides of the entrance, a semi-circle of frost, closing us into the door. Ivy stepped back as Frost lifted his hands and a wall of ice-covered us blocking off the top and sides of the entrance like a dome.

Frost slams his hands onto the wall, and a column of icy mist starting from his hands and covering the inner dome of the ice wall making it more secure and solid. We could hear the assassins on the other side of the ice wall trying to break in or shoot their way in but it was no use, Frost had solidified a few layers of permafrost between us and them and he nearly fell over from depletion but Feline caught him.

Frost rarely summoned that kind of cold because in doing so, his powers were nearly inactive for about an hour or so. Feline held him up for support as Waller dusted herself off and walked to the entrance of the building which was open however, she stopped, unsure and looked to the last of her men.

"Go inside," she directs and the man nods.

He steps inside, and when nothing seemed to happen to him, she began to follow, along with the rest of us and the soldier was accosted by the final assassin wearing a ritual-like necklace with a gold embroidered leather suit.

Waller's soldier was about to pull his gun to defend her but the assassin had already started twirling the necklace and the man's body was instantly aged until he was nothing more than dust and we all looked on at the female assassin, the necklace she wears glowing red with the ruby at the center.

She turns to us and starts twirling the necklace and before anyone could react we were all feeling our energies ebbing, we could feel the assassin absorbing our life force into the gold pendant. Pressing her finger against the ruby and I'd held onto my bat for support, trying to keep from falling.

I was nearest to the assassin, and as I slid down the bat, I noticed that it was rippling purple, the pent up kinetic energy still inside it and I slid the bat the to the ground with me, the butt of it, right at the last assassin's leg.

"Just...a...little," I say to myself as I push the bat, with my remaining energy, toward her leg and once it makes contact the kinetic energy is released and the woman's leg, crushing it and causing her to fall to the side next to me, breaking her concentration.

Once broken, the necklace's effects stopped nearly instantaneously and I immediately leaped onto of the assassin, after raking the bat across the floor to build up some energy and pushed it to her chin, cracking it open as I snatched the necklace from her neck and just before I could smash it,

"Wait!" Waller screams at me, and I stop before I smash the necklace to the ground, she walks over and snatches it from my hand and smiles biting her lip in excitement. She turns to us and Flag and holds the necklace close,

"Where is your other half?" she asks it, and the necklace's ruby glows as the entire almost dark warehouse is lit by ominous torches, lighting the way in front of us. The torches light toward a straight path down a pathway to the middle of the warehouse and she follows the path, as we follow behind her. Once we reach the middle of what looked like a large ritualistic space.

The torches are lit into a circle, surrounding a demonic looking cul de sac of darkness, the warehouse walls are covered in what looked like sigils of some kind with a large white pool dug into the middle with a decrepit man sitting in what looked like a throne of some kind, watching us, a book sitting on an altar in front of the pool that wasn't a pool.

It was...something more...and I immediately knew what I was looking at.

It was Ra's Lazarus Pit, the very thing responsible for his seemingly extant life. Waller smiled, watching the man who was staring at her. He looked nothing like the man that I'd seen when I faced him the first time. The Ra's I'd seen was younger, still recovering from a resurrection, but definitely attractive. He was usually a brunette, scruffy-looking, tan man with hooded eyes, with an air of power radiating from him.

But the man that sat in that throne staring at Waller, was a ghost of his former self, an old man barely hanging onto life. Waller smiles, twiddling the necklace in her hands,

"See without his little golden girl going out to steal life forces, he's just a cough away from fading away. The necklace can only keep him from dying, at least until he can get into his little bath, to restore his life, for good this time.

Under the light of the red eclipse, which lasts, oh only about ten minutes, which, if I'm not mistaken, could have allowed him to reach absolute immortality, no need for the Pit, no more resurrections, total and everlasting life, without all the nasty side-effects. But alas, without a sacrifice of love, the girl you just killed Harley, he cannot restore his youth, and after today, his life will be fade away, once the Pit is no longer in his possession.

This will be a final death for him, but I do hope you can hold on, Ra's. I'd really like to see your face when you finally die, permanently,"

Flag comes up, his gun at the ready and Waller simply places her hand on the barrel of it and pushes it to his side, taking it from his hands,

"No need for that, Rick. Without his assassins, he's nothing more than an old man, until his power is restored. The real threat has already been eliminated and the hour," she looks up and we see the red moon beginning to eclipse the sunlight above, I'd forgotten that today was some sort of special eclipse,

"Is nearing and you've got no one on your side."

She smiles, walking toward the book and flipping through the pages while a wheezing Ra's simply smiles, slightly, his eyes glossy. Flag looks at Waller as she stands at the altar, flipping through the pages, as Flag pulls his book bag to the side, making room for the book.

Ivy, Frost, Feline, and I just look between each other, trying to figure out what's about to happen next and we tried to step near each other, trying to interlock our pinkies to talk again but before we got the chance, Flag spoke up,

"So, is that it?"

"Yes," she answers, stopping at a page, a smile drawing onto her face,

"Yes it is, turns out the bitch wasn't lying at all, and look, Ra's, you've got everything laid out nice and neatly for me."

She turns to Ra's who just looks to her, a small smile still drawing on his face. Flag looks at Waller, confusion set in as he furrowed his brows along with ours, none of us knew what was about to happen as Waller, walked toward the pool looking inside and then to Flag.

"Director Waller, I thought we were securing the asset, why are we still here?" he asks.

"Oh we are," she said, holding up the amulet,

"The Amulet, the Book, and the Pit are a set, a triad of sorts. They both need to be present for the Pit to remain active. The only way the Book of Lazarus can be utilized is if the person using it has the Amulet that has been empowered through a sacrifice that   
absorbs the spark that separates life from death.

Once that is accomplished, the Amulet is empowered giving whoever wields it, wields the ability to use the Book's magic. Without the Amulet being fully empowered, the Book is totally useless."

"So...we have the Amulet, right? The woman used it on us, so we've got all we need?" he asks, smiling, and Waller shakes her head.

"No, that's the basic power the Amulet holds, it steals life energy, but to be fully empowered, it still needs a true sacrifice, one of love or devotion, in order to be empowered to use the Book," she answers, walking near Flag.

"Why am I learning about this now? If the Book is useless without the Amulet, and you need a sacrifice of love for it to work correctly, what was the point of it becoming property of the A.R.G.U.S. if we can't even use it?" he asks.

"As I said, it's only useless without the proper sacrifice," she answers, shooting Flag in the stomach,

"Oh my god!" Feline screams out, as the four of us jump back in surprise, watching as Flag struggles to breathe as he doubles over to the ground.

Waller's expression remains unchanged as she pulls the tablet from the ground beside him and looks at him, as he struggles the breathe,

"You see, the Amulet can only be used if a true sacrifice is made, but it must be made for selfish gain, in this case, power and immortality," she says, as she drags the dying man towards the pit, his blood spilling out into the murky white waters,

"The Lazarus Pit decides if the sacrifice is worthy," she continues, watching as the Pit glows Flags blood shimmering red, turning the Pit a reddish-white color as it flows into the water,

"And under the light of the approaching eclipse, I shall wield absolute immortality and," she smiles as she picks watches the ruby glow red, "absolute power."

She looks to the four of us staring at her and smiles as we look at Flag's now dead body, I look at her and I'm the first to speak,

"So...not that I'm complaining but uh, now that you've got all your power and stuff, we can just go right? I mean, you got you wanted, we got you and him here, safely, and you're about to be some uber-powerful immortal witch or something, so can we just you know...leave?"

"He was a means to an end, just like the four of you. Why do you think I called you the Suicide Sirens. This was only going to end one way. With your deaths," she said, as she picks up the tablet and just as the four of us were going to try and attack her we were all, including Waller and Flag's corpse was thrown backward by a gust of strong wind and a large line of dark energy floating in midair.

The Amulet, Waller was using had flown from her hand near me, and once I'd regained my composure, I'd picked it up, as Waller looked to me her hand ready to press the detonator,

"I can still kill you all!" she threatens and I hold the Amulet towards a nearby rock.

"And I'll smash it before you get the chance!" I yell back, and she smiles.

"Or I could just blow off your heads and pick it up from your corpse," she says, pressing the scream and I immediately flinch in response, expecting the four of our heads to explode and nothing happened.

Frost, Feline, and Ivy looked at me, and I looked to Waller, who was just as confused as the four of us.

"No...no! That's impossible!" she screams, pressing the screen more firmly, and we flinch again, nothing happening and I smile darkly, realizing her threats meant nothing now. We all looked to Waller, our expressions deadly as I held up the Amulet about to smash it,

"Well, bitch! Looks like you're outta luck, and outta amulets," I sneer as I am about to slam the Amulet down against the rock and she screams out.

Suddenly the line of dark energy shifts again at that same moment and another strong gust of wind comes through, this one stronger than the last, sending us into the wall again, and this time, Waller is knocked out.

Ra's just sits there, unmoved as he watches, and when I recollect myself for a second time, I see men grabbing Frost, clipping on meta cuffs to both him, Feline, and Ivy.

My vision was still slightly hazy from the two times I was slammed against the wall, but I was recovering quickly and the haze was starting to clear up. I felt arms grabbing me, holding me up, and I looked over at the young man standing next to the line of dark energy floating in the air.

His eyes like raccoons with the dark eye makeup he was wearing and his black slick back hair and shock white skin made him look like something from a horror film. I knew exactly who he was when I saw him.

"The portal back to Gotham will only remain open for ten minutes, not a second later, once the eclipse ends, the portal closes. Get back through it before the sun returns, or you'll have to take the long way back. I'll take my chalice now," Klarion added as he held out his hand, and I watched as he was handed his payment.

"Don't get your tighty whities in a bunch kid, you did good, I appreciate you," I hear the response and I immediately recognize the voice that answers him, handing him the chalice.

"Kiss my ass," he sneers one last time as he places a hand on the line of dark energy and in a flash he's gone.

"Sorry K, but there's only one ass in this whole world I'd ever kiss!" he laughs as he walks up to me, his green hair covering his left eye as his grin widens as he nears me.

He pulls my chin up to him and I snatch it away and he merely keeps smiling, flicking his hair out of his face to stare at me head-on. He speaks, his voice menacingly low and deadly,

"Now you didn't think you could get away from me that easy, did you, puddin'?"   
_________________________________________

**_The Night of the Fight_ **

"I thought you'd be upset with me?" Braeden says, sitting at the edge of my bed looking at me as I put on my nightclothes, a simple white tee, with some white shorts to match, but I didn't put on any shoes, I just casually walked over, barefoot from the mirror that stood in Mr. J and I's room.

I'd invited Braeden back over tonight, and he agreed to talk to me, begging to get the chance to explain what happened, not that I cared but I had to get him alone.

"Why on earth would I be upset?" I lie, putting on my Bronx accent to try and calm his nerves, ever since he'd come with me into the warehouse, he was anxious, rightfully so, but for this next part I needed him to be very calm, he was starting to cloud my earlier decision.

"Because I'm upset with me," he adds, rubbing his eyes and shifting on the bed uncomfortably,

"How could I have been so stupid? Well I know how I could have been so stupid it's just that I hoped..."

I was going to sit on his right side to be closer to the pillow so that we could get this part over with as quickly as possible, but his words they were distracting me, there was something he was hiding, something that I didn't quite understand, and I wanted to know, so I chose to sit on his left as he continued, he turned to me,

"I just wanted to believe he was telling the truth, you know? We've been friends for years Harley, and ever since I met you, you've always seen me as you know...a little brother. And that's fine I guess, I was happy with that, but then...then I saw how you were with Ivy.

I mean, you see him as a brother too, and yet the two of you still sleep together. And Frost and Feline, they've been with you too. I mean, I get it I guess, I'm not special like them, just a common criminal, I don't have powers, not enhanced like you and Joker, just...human. But...why didn't you ever want me?" he asks, his expression shifting to one I'd never really seen from him before, he looked...hurt.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, confused.

"That's why I was so excited when Joker asked me to come over, he said that you guys wanted to be with me, wanted to add me to your list of guys you could sleep with. He said that he had to fuck me first and then....then you and I could be together too, you know, in that way.

He said that you'd asked him and that once I slept with him, then I was good to go," he answered.

"He told you that?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper, Mr. J didn't just betray me, he thought about it, he planned it, he knew exactly what he was doing when he did it. He even manipulated someone else into helping him do it.

"Harley...you have to know. I would never, ever, sleep with him without your permission, I know how much you love him. I was just so...I just felt so lonely, you know? I had a crush on Scarecrow for a while, but as you can see that didn't work out.

But if I'm being completely honest, I was just looking for a distraction, from wanting someone who'd never want me the same way," he says looking at me, and I watch as he puts his and on my cheek and I look at him, and realization sets in,

"You wanted me?" I ask, baffled.

"More than I cared to admit. I mean have you seen you, Harley, you're the jackpot, one that I never stood a chance at winning. And I guess I was okay with that.

I was okay with just being your friend, that was until I learned that you could share yourself with other people, and I wasn't one of the ones you chose to...be with you," he says, turning away from me, shamefully,

"So when Joker called and told me that you wanted me and that he was willing to allow me to sleep with you, I jumped at the chance, I would've done just about anything to be with you like that. I...I really like you, Harley.

I was just fucking stupid to think that you'd like me too. Guess I should've known it was just a trick, right?"

"No, he's good at what he does," I answer, laughing bitterly.

Braeden wasn't making this easy, and I couldn't blame the guy, but...I still did. Even though I knew what had to happen, he didn't deserve what Mr. J did to him, he didn't deserve to be manipulated like that, but he was and that had to be dealt with. But that didn't mean that he couldn't get something out of it too.

"You know," I say, raising my hand to his chin and turning him to me, his light brown stubble and green eyes looking at me, forlorn,

"It is kind of weird how much we look alike, I mean if it wasn't for those chemicals bleaching my skin and hair, I'd say we'd pass for siblings.

But, just because we look like brothers, doesn't mean we are. Which means, there is nothing standing in our way of sleeping together, except you know, clothes?"

"Yeah I know, that's why--" he starts as he turns to me and I smile at him sliding out of my shorts and underwear and laying back onto the bed, my dick already rising at his lustful gaze.

"You said you wanted me, and I never gave you a chance, well, 'little brother' show me just how not so little you are. Show me why I should have given you a shot a long time ago," I tease and Braeden quickly went to work, taking off his clothes, in a hurry and standing stark naked in front of me, crawling up on top of me his face right above my own.

"I've dreamt of this for three years Harley," he says, pulling me into a kiss, and I return it, not expecting his admission. He starts kissing my neck, my face, working his way down,

"I know I could never have you, but anyway I can be with you," he says between kisses,

"Anyway, is good enough for me," he says, finally making his way down to my cock,

"Fuck you don't know how many times I've jerked off to this," he said pulling my cock in his hand, rubbing it against his lips, before taking it in his mouth and suckling the head of it for a few seconds before pushing it down his throat, sucking me without abandon.

He was good at it, really good at it, and regardless of how angry I was at Mr. J and him, having my dick sucked was always a good time. I never knew how much Braeden wanted me, I never noticed, maybe it was unfair of me to sleep with Frost and Feline, and not even consider him but the thought just never occured to me.

I think he was in love with me, and while I could never love him the way I love Mr. J and Sam, I did care about him, not enough to spare him, but enough to give him this, to give him my body since he could never have my heart.

So, I gripped his brown hair tightly as he sucked my dick, pushing my legs up to suck me more thoroughly and I watched him intently, ecstasy in his eyes and a fire in my body, as he licked his way down from my balls, to my taint.

He spread my legs as he started to kiss my hole, lapping at it softly before becoming increasingly more hungry with it. He was tonguing my hole so hard that I thought I was going to pass out from pleasure, he was spearing me open with it, tongue fucking me so hard that his face was moving in and out of my ass without pause.

To say I was moaning would be an understatement, I was screaming in pleasure.

I was watching him jerking his dick as he ate me out, watching him moan into my ass as he was pulling out every groan and yelp from my body and my head was thrown back in absolute nirvana. But I looked at him, he was about to cum, I could see the look in his eyes and I looked to the side, at the pillow and I got an idea.

I couldn't let this end like this, he deserved so much better than this.

"Stop," I say, and he kisses my hole once more before looking at me, from between my legs and I wrap my legs around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He crawls between my legs, his dick pressed against mine,

"I want you to fuck me, Braeden," I say, rocking into his dick,

"I want you to cum in me," I say and he groans as he looks at me.

"Call me Adam, that's my real name, Braeden's just a persona I made up when I came to Gotham. Say it again, please say it again, but use my real name, please," he says, begging and the pang of guilt runs through my body, he really does trust me, but why.

"Alright," I admit,

"Adam...I want you to fuck me. I want your cum inside me," I say and he's shuddering as he shifts to move down and I stop him, and he looks at me, confused.

"Don't finger me, just fuck me tight, I want you to feel me wrapping around you, milking your cum out of that hard dick," I say, pulling his body upward, he crawls up, following my lead and I take his dick in my mouth, sucking him and he throws his head back, crying out as I lubricate his dick with my spit,

"Fuck, Harley! I love your mouth, it's so warm, and it's so, fuck it's so good," he says, biting his lips as I suck him and he pulls himself out of my mouth and crawls back between my legs, lifting as I spread them for him as he lines his dick up with my entrance.

He places his head to my hole and looks at me, his body shuddering harder and he pushes in, sliding into me as he comes back up to my face, looking at me, his mouth open in pleasure,

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck," he says, as he's fully sheathed inside me. I had to admit, Braeden's dick was nice inside me. He was thick and long and he filled me up well, I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it a lot.

He looks down at me as I bring him in for a kiss and he pulls out and pushes back in and starts to find his pace. Fucking me with long, slow strokes and making sure he's pulling out and deeper in, earning a gasp from me as he consistently hit my spot and I placed my left-hand middle finger to his lips which he took in, sucking on it.

Once it was wet enough I slid my hand to his ass, slipping my wet finger in between his cheeks and started to massage his hole. He was groaning harder as I massaged his hole in a circular motion, in congruence with his thrusts and I slid my other hand towards my pillow as he reached out with his left hand to interlace our fingers and I decided to let him do it.

He felt really good inside me and his hole felt even better on my finger, I'd let him have this moment because I was nearing climax too. He pushed in one more time and I felt his hole pulsing as he groaned out through his orgasm, unloading his cum inside me, and I was following right behind him, cumming on his and my chest and he collapsed on top of me, wrapping his arms around me and letting go of my hand.

Even in my post orgasmic haze I still had enough agency to reach under the pillow for my blade and before I made a move he pulled up and looked at me,

"I know what you're doing, Harley?" he says as he looks to the blade in my hand, and I look at him confused,

"Do you have to? You know...I didn't mean for it to happen, I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too, but...I have to...he was...he was with you and I...I can't let any other guy know what it's like to be with Mr. J that way, except me. I want--I have to be the only one," I admit, pulling the blade forward.

"I'm pretty sure if I tried to get away you'd catch me, right?" he asks and I nod, looking at him in the eyes and he just looks at me, swallowing.

"If you knew I was going to kill you, why did you still come? Why didn't you try to hide?" I ask, clutching the blade tighter, waiting for him to try and run.

"Because...I know you. The moment you saw us, I saw that look in your eye. I knew he lied to me, and I knew that hiding from you was pointless.

My whole life is in Gotham, I have nowhere else to go, besides, your boyfriend works for the Falcone's, you'd have more than enough resources to find me even if I ran, at least this way it's my choice" he admits and laughs bitterly looking at me, his eyes watering.

"You can still try if you want," I propose,

"You could still fight me now, I'd let you get the first punch."

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just stay here, with you. At least this way, I won't have to keep looking over my shoulders, wondering when you would find me. I don't want to die like that, fighting you. I just...I want to die happy, could you do something for me though?" he asks and I nod.

He pulls himself out of me and pushes up from his hands so that he's hovering over me as he looks at me.

"I know you don't love me, Harley, not like that. But could you pretend, just for a few moments, just, pretend, just pretend that you could have loved me like that?" he asks and I look at him. It sort of scared me how aware he was, and even though I didn't love Braeden like a lover, I did care about him...he'd sort of grown on me for the past few years.

And part of me, I hated to admit it, but part of me loved him like a little brother, and it saddened me that he cared this much about me and I didn't even notice, so I nodded, pulling my blade so that it was facing his chest. He looked down and looked at me in the eyes and I smiled,

"Kiss me," I ask and he smiles, and he leans down and I kiss him, ever so tenderly as I slowly shove my blade into his chest, he yelps out in pain as the blood started flowing from his chest and onto my white shirt, and he looks at me, struggling to breathe as I caressed his face with my hand,

"I love you, Adam," I say, and he smiles, the blood started to seep from his mouth as he struggles to answer me back, and I even though he said to pretend...I wasn't, and that had caused a wave of guilt to wash over me. What have I done? I've killed someone who felt like family, I just stabbed someone who loved me and...I realized that I loved him too.

I looked at him, struggle, and I thought maybe I could take the blade out, but I knew if I did, it would only kill him faster and if I left it in, it'd be slower, but it still wouldn't be enough time to get him to someone who could help him. The acid only works on Joker and me because we got lucky, but it could kill him if I tried it on him, much more painfully.

I tried to move against him, not wanting him to struggle anymore, at the very least, I could let him die quickly, but he held onto me, forcing me to keep the knife inside him and I looked at him, in confusion as the waves of guilt came pouring from me.

"It's okay, Har--Harley..." he says, as he smiles coughing as the blood starts to flow more quickly through his lips and his chest and his breath is hitching,

"No...no, what did I do? Adam, I don't...I don't, what have I done?" I admit, tears brimming my eyes, and he wipes the tears from my eyes,

"It's okay, it's alm--almost over--shhh, it's alm--alm--" he assures me, but his voice was fading as his body started jerking, now, and the last breath he takes in, he exhales and he's gone.

His body goes limp as he stares at me, life faded from his eyes. I pull him off of me, carefully, feeling the tears falling as I start pulling on my underwear and shorts, looking down at my shirt, his blood still staining it and seeping down to my shorts and I look back at him, and I feel my mind cracking a little more. I felt like I was breaking down looking at the lifeless body bleeding onto Mr. J and I's bed.

I felt my throat hitch with regret as I realize the weight of what I'd just done. I felt my eyes stinging a little with tears still flowing from my eyes as my mind tried to make sense of the situation and breaking more and more as I think about it.

I had to kill him, I had to, it just had to happen, that's why my brain said, and yet looking at him, looking at him as he allowed himself to die by my hands because...because he loved me, my heart, it was breaking again. It was the first time since I started killing people that I felt remorse, guilt, and worst of all, I felt...rage.

Not at him, but at myself, my mind couldn't take it. I didn't love him the way he'd wanted me to but I did love him, and that painful realization, it broke me even more. I couldn't take this, not now, not when the person responsible still needed to be handled, both of us needed to be handled.

So I buried down the pain, buried the regret and mental crushing sensation I was feeling and forced myself to not feel the pain, to channel it elsewhere, to turn my pain into rage. I had to pretend like I was angry at him to keep from breaking apart, and I had to direct that rage and that anger towards the person who helped orchestrate this series of events.

If someone who didn't even have my romantic love could love me so completely, then why couldn't Mr. J, and that's when I realized. He didn't, he didn't love me at all. And now I killed someone that I cared about because of him. So now...now I had to pay for it. I killed Braeden and even though I was forcing myself to hate him to keep the pain of what I did from destroying me, I deserved death for what I did to him.

So I was going to make that happen, I was going to get what I deserved, and I knew just who was going to give it to me.

I gripped the blade tighter in my hand and started to walk out of the room, looking back only momentarily to see his body lying on the bed. I did that, and I deserved to be punished. So I walked out of my room and into the hallway. I walked to the other side of the warehouse, covered in Braeden's blood with nothing but vengeance in mind.

I swung the door open and watched as Mr. J and his men all turned to me, and Mr. J just smiled as he saw me standing there.

"Get out," I say, staring at Mr. J and the men are all silent, except an oafish looking one, he'd walked up to me,

"We're trying to handle some busin--," before he could finish his sentence I'd already leapt up to his neck and stabbed him in his throat, shoving the blade through his adam's apple over and over again and he fell to the floor and I looked at the other men,

"I said go!" I commanded and they all quickly filled out, closing the door behind them as I stared at Joker. He just smiled back, smug almost as he pulled his blade from his boot and watched me. 

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Huh?" he asks, I say nothing as I stared, unmoving at the man I love, the man that helped make me into what I am, the man who'd lead me to kill Braeden. A man who deserved to die, but not as much as I did.

I ran up to him first, not caring for the small talk, not caring for the banter and immediately tried slitting his arm, but he expected my move and whipped me around, punching me in the stomach. I flipped backward, having regained my breath quickly and bounded onto my hands kicking Mr. J in the face as I flipped back over.

While he was distracted I ran up to him again and he'd slammed his arm against my chest, hard, causing me to fall back onto the floor. I'd forgotten how strong he was.

"What's the matter Harl's are you still angry with me," he teases, and I cough a little, trying to regain my composure as I propel myself upward but the moment I turn around to hit him, he'd already punched me in my face and I was stumbling back as my nose started to bleed.

"How could you--how could you do that--how could do that to me?" I say running up and lifting myself into the air, kicking him with both of my feet in his chest.

He stumbles back and I fall to the ground, still not completely coherent from his punch to my face, I was sloppy so I fell onto my back hard.

"What, fuck him? Doesn't matter, you killed him didn't you, so all's well that ends well," he says, kicking me in my side, I catch his foot on the second strike snatching him downward as I use my other leg to straddle him and smacked him across his face with my fist.

"He was my friend! He shouldn't have died, I should've killed you, but I let you fuck me up so much in the head that I thought--I thought killing him was the only way to fix it," I scream at him, punching him across the face a few times before he flips me over, slamming my head onto the ground beneath.

The force of it making everything go white for a second as my ears started to ring with a whooshing sound from my vision clearing, but he didn't give me much time to recover before he started smacking me across my face and just when I was about to slip into unconsciousness he stood up,

"I didn't make you do anything. You made a choice, you killed your friend, I just fucked him. Shame though, he was a hot piece of ass," he admits and I flip back up, cracking my neck as I jump up to kick him, he grabs my foot and tries to twist it, but I allow him to and use the force of his twist to propel my other foot into the air to kick him in the face.

I barely regain enough balance to land on my feet as I stumble back a little, watching him stare at me as he spits a glob of his blood onto the floor,

"Alright bitch, we're playing without the training wheels huh?" he asks, charging at me, tackling me from my waist and slammed me onto the ground. I cough out some blood too, but I slit his waist a little on the fall, causing him to bleed out a little on me.

He tries to get back up to start wailing on me again, but I gripped his neck in a headlock as he lifted me up, trying to get me to let go, punching me in my ribs causing me to let go as he twists my arm around, blade in his other hand, and slit my waist to as I cry out. He has my arm in a hold behind my back and he jerks it tighter,

"Now you listen to--" he starts, but before he could finish I snatched myself forward, crying out and I purposefully dislocated my shoulder, swung underneath him to slam him onto the ground. 

His hand was still holding the blade so he'd accidentally slit me deep in my stomach and I cried out again, the pain of the wound making me yelp out even more. Joker ended up on top of me and he'd noticed how deep the would was,

"Harley! Wait--I can fix it, just let me get--" he starts again, but I find enough energy in my reserve to slam my head against his in a headbutt that knocks him out cold. He falls over, off of me and I push him off of me and make force myself to find the strength to stand. I got up and started hobbling towards the back exit out of the warehouse, not wanting Mr. J's guards to see me.

I was going to die, this wound was too deep to be stitched up and even though I knew that the acid from ACE chemicals could probably patch me up, I wasn't in the mood to be healed.

I looked back at all the things that I'd done, the people that I killed and most recently, the friend that I'd just stabbed in the chest. I deserved to die, I deserve exactly what was happening to me and I deserve to bleed out for what I did.

But no, I had to stay alive, just a little bit longer, I had to get to Ivy to apologize. If I was going to die, I wasn't going to do it with that hanging over my head. I had to think of hate, I had to keep myself going, so I couldn't give up yet, not until I apologized to Ivy.

So I forced the regret of what I did to Braeden farther down into the recesses of my mind, I forced the guilt down as deep as it could go and thought of him as just some person, a nameless harlot that I had to kill, I had to kill him because...because I'm--because I'm a bad person. I killed someone that I loved like a family member because I thought it would curb my feelings of unrequited love from Mr. J.

If I could kill Braeden, then that meant that maybe...deep down I had the capacity to kill Sam, and I couldn't let that happen. I would never hurt anyone else that I loved or cared about again, not as a result of Mr. J, not ever again. I was going to apologize to Ivy, and then...then I was going to die.

But right now, all I could think about was the hate I felt for Mr. J, the hate that would fuel my movements as I walked up the dirt road towards Ivy's home. I had to get there before I died, he had to know I was sorry. So the only thought that I could allow in my head, the only feeling I could focus on was hate and life.

I had to hang on to apologize and then I could die knowing that no one else I loved would die at my hands, ever again. So the only thought right now was to hold onto the wound on my stomach and two words, I kept repeating over and over again.

_Stop bleeding._


	9. Chapter 9

**_Now_ **

"Dr. Quinzel, you know...I live for these moments with you. I took the liberty of disabling those nasty little chips of yours when the portal opened, safety measures and all that," Joker says staring at me.

I watched his men throw Frost and Feline toward the black line of energy that still stood floating in the middle of the warehouse after releasing them from their cuffs, once they made contact with it, they vanished with a flash into the black energy,

"Where are you taking them?" I ask him, my voice like sharp glass.

"Oh, they aren't really necessary, so I sent them back to Gotham, they should be landing somewhere in their respective homes. Besides, couldn't have you four trying to team up on me, but you," he says, walking over to Ivy.

He stands there, still being gripped tightly by Joker's men with his meta cuffs glowing with a green dot on each of its shackles, and he stares at Joker with fire in his eyes,

"You're like a thorn in my back, so you'll be staying put. You know, you've always thought you were on some high ground cause you're a metahuman, but look at you now, bitch," he says, walking up closer to Ivy, and one of his men hands him a needle full of a green liquid, he stabs it into Ivy's arm,

"Fucking asshole!" Ivy screams as Joker pushes the liquid into Ivy's body, and suddenly, Ivy's skin turns from green to his original tan color and his hair reverts to its brown shade as his whole form reverts to appearing human.

He looks to Joker, confusion in his eyes, as the men take off his cuffs and hold him by his shoulders. Ivy tries to use his powers, but nothing happens and he stares at Joker in confusion,

"A little trick I picked up from good ole Saint Nick, him and Croc had it out a few hours before we arrived, he escaped but not before we got a little of his hypercharged blood.

Croc's gonna be out of commission for a while, but it was worth it, we mixed a little of that, with a little meta gene suppression serum, and voalá, you've got an Ivy that isn't so poisonous, anymore."

"You think I still won't end you Pennywise, you've got another thing--" Ivy starts.

"Oh calm down, the effects aren't permanent, but they'll last long enough, long enough for me to prove a point. Killing you like this would be...boring. And you know me, Ivy, I've always had a flair for the dramatics," he says, walking away from him and standing in front of me.

His men holding onto me with a vice grip, not letting me get an inch, looks like Mr. J learned his lesson the last time we were in this situation.

"So what, you're going to take me with you back to Gotham? Force me to be with you again? Force me to forgive you, I'll tell you right now, I'll be trying to kill you every step of the way, I can promise you that?" I respond and Joker merely smiles.

"I'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to do, you know that Harley. Everything that's happened to you, everything you do is your choice, your decision, and I've just provided the options," he says, walking over towards me.

"Well, then why are you here? If it's my choice like you keep saying, then I choose to leave you. And here you are trying to force me to reevaluate my decision. Respect what I said and leave...me...alone," I say slowly, trying to get him to understand and he looks at me, cocking his head to the side and I see him weighing my words.

"But that's the thing, I really don't think you want me too, because if you did, I wouldn't see that look in your eyes, anymore. That look of betrayal, that look of excitement that you're trying to hide from me, that look of...desire. You want me, and you just don't want to let yourself have me. 

Stop fighting me Harley, it would be so much easier if you just accepted that you still want me," he says, his voice sing-songy as he grips his fists in frustration.

"I do still want you, Mr. J," I admit, and his eyes light up, Ivy looks over at me, disappointment about to draw itself on his face before I continue,

"I want you more than I want to breathe sometimes, I want you so badly it hurts, but...you don't want me the same way. You broke our trust, the one bond that sealed us together, and once you break someone like that...once you break their trust, you can't get it back.

You want me to forgive you for what you did, but I don't. I don't forgive you because I don't forgive myself for what I did because I was so mad at you. I wanted revenge and someone's dead now because of that. Someone that loved me and wasn't afraid to admit it. I killed them because I loved you.

That's what your love did to me, that's what it pushed me to. So if you're asking me if I still want to be with you, the answer is yes, but if the question is will I go back to you, the answer is no."

His smile falters and he blinks, his expression almost pained, as if he wants to say something but again, something keeps him from saying what he really wants to say, that same damn wall that put us in this situation in the first place.

"Can't you see the big picture here? You killed him for me, you always kill people for me, that's how we should how much we need each other. You killed Braeden, and now, we're closer because of it. He's one less person that needs you, which means your time is more focused on us.

We get rid of distractions so that the only people left to care about us, are each other. If there is no one else that needs you, then you can never leave me, can't you see?

I did all of this to show you that I need you, I need you and I won't let anyone else have you. No one. You killed Braeden because you need me, and you'll kill anyone else who'll have me," he adds, smiling, his face contorting in frustration like he was trying to get me to understand and while part of me knew what he meant, I knew that this wasn't it anymore.

I knew that he wasn't it for me anymore, not after that, not after Braeden, not after all we've been through together.

"But I don't need you, Mr. J...I loved you. That's the difference between us. You need me around, I love for you to be around. You need me to be yours alone, I love the loyalty that we shared with one another.

You need to be the only person in my life, and my love for you was never enough for you. You needed to be in control, you needed me to be your pet, not your lover, well I'm not an animal Mr. J, I'm a human being.

I loved you and you hurt me, now deal with what you did, accept the bed that you made," I say and he turns around and he yells out in frustration.

He starts to laugh as he turns back to me, his eyes glossy or teary, I couldn't quite tell as he hit himself in the head with his hand shaking it to look at me and he grips my face and I look at him.

"It was enough. I promise! It was enough, give it back to me. Give it back! I want it back! Why can't you give it back to me? Why can't you be enough for me again?" he asks, and he pushes himself up against me and forces me into a kiss and asks with his tongue to enter my mouth but I don't return it, I hold my mouth firm and still, not letting him in.

He had to know that this was the end, he had to know that I wasn't taking him back, not this time. He pulls away looking at me,

"We're done Mr. J, because you just 'needing me'...it's not enough for me," I admit and he shakes his head and calls to one of his men who hand him a gun and I noticed the other he had on his waist and wondered why he asked for his goon to hand him one,

"It's not enough because your focus is diverted," he said, and he gestures to the men holding Ivy. 

They let him go pushing him over a little and Joker's men hold their guns facing Ivy as Joker gestures for Ivy to stand up, tossing the gun in his hand toward me, sliding it to me in the dirt and the men release me and I look around.

Joker just smiles, but his smile is more unhinged this time, more maniacal,

"Let's finish this once and for all. You say that you don't love me anymore, then prove it, put me out of my misery. Kill me, or kill him, but you're going to have to choose one.

That's why I made him human for a while, his power won't save him this time, you say that you love him and you love me, you can't love both of us equally so you're going to have to make a decision right here, right now."

"I'm not going to pick between you two," I say, and then the men cock their guns at Ivy,

"Then he'll die anyway. Look, they've been paid, they have one job, kill or release. If you shoot me, they'll leave, I promise, but if you shoot him, we can go home, but shoot no one, and Ivy dies by their hands.

The choice is yours, make it or watch him die," he says and I stare at him as I pick up the gun, and cock it and I stare at the last two people in this world that I care about and my eyes start to water,

"Why are you doing this?" I ask.

"Because...I need to know who you would choose, I need to know which one of us is enough for you, so stop talking and pick, time is running out," he says and he grips Ivy and he yanked away from him, looking at me and I look between them.

"You want me to choose," I say, holding the gun and my eyes darted around the warehouse, watching as Ra's simply smiled at the events unfolding, noticing that Waller was starting to come to and the blood-red skies above me, were starting to fade, the eclipse ending in mere minutes.

I thought about everything that's happened over the years and realized that this was a choice I should have made a long time ago, long before I met Braeden, long before I met Mr. J, and long before I knew Ivy. The choice that I wanted to make when I was a kid a long time ago.

There was a night where my dad was out, after having beaten my mom until she was on the floor in the living room writhing in her own pain when I was sitting in my parent's room with my dad's shotgun in my hand. All I could think about was how much pain I caused my family, how much my being born had made my mom the victim of my dad's abuse.

She was defending me, the little faggot boy that everyone was calling me, and the little sissy boy my dad so dispised. She took a lot of beatings, trying to protect me, but today, today my dad was ruthless. I wanted to save my mom, I wanted to keep her from getting hurt again.

So I was pulling the gun to my mouth, but before I could pull the trigger, she'd burst into the room and stopped me. She stopped me because she said that she needed me, she needed me alive and leaving her would kill her. So I stayed alive for her, and look where that's got me.

Look where I am now, and look at how many people I love have been hurt by me.

If I'd just died that day, Ivy would have never gotten his powers, Joker would have never met me, and Braeden would still be alive. I was the common denominator, which means I was the one that was the problem.

I loved to blame the Joker for what happened, but the truth is, as he said, it was always my choice, and it was time that I made the right one.

"I choose you both, Ivy run!" I scream.

I pulled the gun to my mouth and heard Ivy yell out my name as I squeezed the trigger slightly, closing my eyes, waiting for the blast, but nothing came, just a clicking sound. I opened my eyes to look at Ivy who'd taken a breath, his body doubled over as he regained his breath no doubt spiked by the adrenaline of his fear.

I looked at Mr. J who just stared at me, his expression fully confused as he stares at me, walking over to me as his men lower their weapons,

"Why didn't you kill me?" he asks and I drop the gun, looking at him and shaking my head.

"I'm not going to kill him, just like I'm not going to kill you. Can't you see what loving me does to people? They end up getting hurt, dying, or worse, I end up killing them.

This isn't a punishment Mr. J, this is freedom you're feeling. Ivy's lost so much loving me and Braeden lost his life, at least...at least you haven't lost anything yet.

I've given you a gift, you don't have to pretend anymore, you don't love me Mr. J, and that's okay, because the problem with us, was never you, it was me. Let me go and be free," I say and Mr. J looks at me for a moment and he looks to his side and I see it too, Waller pulling her gun up aiming it at me,

"Free this!" she says, firing her gun and Joker pushes me to the ground, stepping in front of me.

I fell to the ground I heard the rapid-fire of Joker's men shooting Waller's body, and I quickly sat back up watching Waller get riddled with bullets and Joker, dropping to his knees in front of me, a bullet wound in the middle of his chest with blood seeping from it and he smiles at me as he falls to the ground and I grab him,

"No, no, no, no, no! Why!? Why didn't you let her kill me!?" I scream at him, the tears flowing from my eyes as the men Ivy walked over, a surprised look on his face. 

The men around us stepped away and walked towards the closing portal flashing away.  
Having seen that Mr. J was no longer going to be the one commanding them anymore.

Ivy was the only one who'd stayed behind, Joker's blood was spilling from his back onto the warehouse ground, as I pulled him closer to me and he looks at me, his smile not sadistic, not angry, not even dark, just a gentle smile of peace as he looked into my eyes, and I was crying hard as he pulled up his left hand to caress my face,

"Ivy do something!?" I scream at him, my voice shaking with fear and sadness and Ivy just looks at me remorsefully,

"I can't...my powers haven't come back yet, and...." he trailed off.

"By the time they do...I'll already be dead," Joker said, smiling as he wiped away my tears and I was heaving I was crying so hard. As much as he hurt me, as much as we've been through together, I still loved this man with my whole soul.

Watching him die was crushing me, it was crushing me more that I think I could physically handle. I felt like my chest was caving in.

"Why did you do it?! Why?!" I scream at him again and he just keeps smiling, holding onto my face, he bled out. I tried to put pressure on it, but it didn't matter, the wound was too close to his heart, Waller shot something important, no amount of pressure was going to change what was happening.

But when I looked into his eyes, I didn't see the insane man I'd grown to love, I saw something else, for the first time in four years, I saw the man behind the Joker, and he was smiling at me, tears streaming down his face too,

"Because...I love you," he admits and I feel like I could die, right along with him, my body couldn't physically produce any more tears, I was breaking down, all the pain that I was trying to keep buried, hitting me at once.

Braeden's death was hard, but now this, I didn't know how much more I could take. as he just kept smiling, accepting his fate,

"Why couldn't you say it before? Why did you have to hurt me like that?" I ask him, my voice cracking under the weight of my heartbreak.

"I thought it was weak. I thought loving you made me weak. But it didn't. The opposite. Loving you, made me so much stronger. Stronger than I'd ever been before. Strong enough to die for you.

You deserve so much better than me, but I'm so happy that you loved me anyway,"

At that final admission, he tried to kiss me and I leaned down and met his lips, but the moment they touched, his head dropped back and he was gone and I was broken.

I didn't even notice that the eclipse was ending, but then I heard a splash and both Ivy and I had looked up and noticed that Ra's had fallen into the Pit with Joker's blood having seeped into a stream into it.

It glowed a reddish color as the pulse of red energy radiated from it knocking us back as Ivy and I both looked over to watch as the eclipse ended and Ra's stepped out of the Pit, fully naked, his youth restored and his body in peak condition.

He pulled on his robe as he turned around to face us and I quickly picked up the Amulet still sitting next to Mr. J's body, and Ra's just smiled taking in a deep breath, as he clenched his fist,

"Now, that was worth the wait," he said looking up at the bright sun shining down on him as he shivered a little,

"Who's the old man now, bitch?" he says, his eyes flaring red as Waller's corpse is engulfed in flames, and she's seared to ash.

Ivy and I looked at each other and he shook his head at me, telling me that he still didn't have his powers back and I held onto the Amulet tightly, knowing that at this moment, this might be the only thing keeping the two of us alive.

I looked to the line of dark energy that faded away as the eclipse ended, our only way home gone and we're left sitting in a room with Ra's Al Ghul.

"She should've listened to the old witch, Enchantress was the only one who could have stopped all this from happening, but that's humanity for you, not really looking at the bigger picture, and always to their detriment.

I suppose I should thank Amanda, for being just as human as can be," he says, smiling as he casually walked over towards us and I held up the Amulet to a rock,

"Now, hand over my property, Quinn, and you and your friend can leave with your lives intact," he said.

"Not a step closer Ra's," I threatened, my voice still hoarse from tears, as I stared Ra's down, his expression shifting from jovial to annoyed in seconds.

"Really, threats Quinn, I let you live the last time we crossed paths, call it me being slightly impressed, but now is not the time to challenge me. You will die this time, I'll make sure of it," he says, his voice low and calm and I looked at him and to the Amulet in my hand and a thought crossed my mind.

"Just give him the damn Amulet, Harley, let's get out of here," Ivy whispered to me, and I took his hand in mine and he looked at me confused as I held the Amulet closer, realizing what was actually happening in this situation.

"Kill us," I say and Ivy shook his head, looking at me as if I really did just lose my mind, trying to let my hand go but I held him tighter squeezing his hand to trust me.

"Don't think I won't," Ra's presses on as his eyes shimmer over red.

Suddenly the area around us was engulfed in a circle of fire and Ivy yelped a little as I stared at the flames, and realized that they may have been high and they may have been close to us, but the ruby in the Amulet started to glow and the only thing that Ivy and I were feeling was a light breeze of warm air.

I smiled, my theory accurate as the flames died down and Ra's looked at us again, his face feigning restraint.

"Next time, you'll burn, now hand over the Amulet," he says, more insistent this time and I just pull it closer, smiling as I stared at him,

"I don't think so, the way I see it, you can't hurt us as long as we're holding this Amulet, because if you could, you would've already killed us and taken it from me. My guess is, you need it to channel your dark magic, and to do that, I would have to give it to you...willingly" I ask and Ivy starts to catch onto what I was saying and interlaced his fingers into mine as we looked at Ra's together.

He smirks, stepping back a little and taking in a breath and cocks his head.

"Alright, what do you want?" he asks. I look down at Mr. J's dead body and back to him,

"Is that even a question?" I respond and he looks to Mr. J and raises his eyebrows.

"Sorry, that's going to be a no-go. After he interrupted Waller's sacrifice, the Pit rejected Flag, so when Joker sacrificed his life for yours, he became the new sacrifice for the Pit. The problem with sacrifices is, they remain that way, permanently.

He can't be brought back to life because his death in this world was used to restore my life. His life force can't be reignited, so he's off the table," he answers, and I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Are you sure about that? Because I can still destroy this Amulet and leave you powerless," I press on, lifting the Amulet above a rock and Ra's holds his hands up in submission.

"I'm not lying, and crushing that won't make anything else I said a lie either. The Joker is dead, and not even my power can restore him," he says.

"Even though you stole his life, stole his chance at living again," Ivy adds, looking at me remorsefully and I squeeze his hands, he may not have liked Mr. J, but he loved me and he supported me, something I could always count on from him.

He really was like a brother to me, standing by my side, through it all.

"So he's gone, for good? There's no way for him to live again, to be....here again," I ask and Ra's takes in a small breath and looks around, thinking as he steps over to his Book of Lazarus, flipping through its pages and he lands on a single page and makes a face,

"Well, there is one thing, but I don't think you're going to like it," he says, picking up the book and walking over to me turning the Book around to face me, and I see the title of the ritual he was showing me,

"The Curse of the Wayward Souls?" I ask, not understanding what it meant as Ra's turns it back around to explain, setting the Book on the ground,

"Well, to put it simply. I can't resurrect him, his blood has paid a service, unintentionally or not to the Lazarus Pit--"

"The blood you stole to come back," I add again, the venom in my words and he just shrugs his shoulders.

"I didn't kill him, Amanda did, I just let the cards fall as they were always destined to fall already. Anyway, his body cannot be restored, but his soul has yet to fully move on. Every human soul stays in the mortal coil for seven days, a layover in the astral plane until they move into their afterlife.

This spell was used, back in the days of Old, where magic was more rampant. You see, in order to punish people like me, the mages of Old had to find a punishment more permanent since death could be cheated:

So, they created a curse," he explains and Ivy and I look to each other and I look at back at Ra's.

"What does this 'curse' do?" I ask.

"Curse is a bit of a strong word because truthfully, chance determines whether it's a curse or not. You see, the only way that people like me, necromancers, remain dead is if our soul does not remain in this world, in this particular reality," he continues.

"There's more than one?" Ivy asks and Ra's nods,

"Dozens actually, maybe more, we exist in what is known as a Multiverse, every decision that can ever be made has been made in another reality. A small example could be your parents being born in different states, being born in a different family, etcetera etcetera.

The Curse of the Wayward Souls can shift a person's soul into another reality, another Earth of sorts, switching the person's soul with the soul of their alternate self, forcing them to live in another reality."

"I don't understand, why would that be a curse?" I ask and Ra's continues,

"Because we don't know what reality you'll end up in. It's not an exact science, you could end up in a better life or a worse one, it just depends.

It's sort of a dimensional game of Russian Roulette, and all you can do is hope that you aren't the one who bites the bullet by ending up in a reality worse than the one you left."

"So you don't know where they end up?" I press on.

"No, the spell requires the death of the one being cursed, so by the time the switch is made, and you are in your new life, the alternate who steps in your body, steps into your death, so there isn't exactly a question and answer section. It was a measure taken just in case the alternate who stepped in was more powerful than the soul that was displaced."

"And that's your only offer, there's nothing else that can be done?" Ivy asks and Ra's nods.

"It's the only way the Joker you fell in love with would find a new life, in an alternate version of himself. I can call for his soul, and send him elsewhere, and his alternate would die in this world, he'd just step into his new life, not remembering much for his old one.

The memories of this world would be like a forgotten dream, impressions of the life before, he'll feel displaced at first until his soul settles in his new life, a process that takes a few moments at most before the alternates memories take hold."

"But I thought you said you needed a death for it to work?" I ask and Ra's smiles,

"Yes, I did, that's where you come in, someone is going to have to be the vehicle for him to leave, feel the sting of death so as to pay the price for passage. Usually, it would be the person going that would pay the price, but since he's already dead, a living vessel must die in order to channel his soul.

Because it will be more than one soul passing through, it will see you as a pair and will switch both of you with alternates from the same alternate earth. So your souls will still be together in whatever reality you land in.

So, tell me, are willing to die for a second chance at life with the one you love, even if there is no guarantee that it will be better than the life you left behind?" he asks and I look down at Mr. J's body, his corpse lying on the ground beneath me and I caress his face, starting to grow cold.

"No, he's not going to do that, you're going to open a portal back to Gotham and we're going to leave all this crazy, multiverse, different reality bullshit behind because if you think that he would--" Ivy starts.

"I'll do it."

Ivy and Ra's both look at me surprised as I turn back to Ra's nodding my head,

"You can't be serious, Harley? I know you loved him, but this is literal suicide, if you do this you have no idea where you two are going to end up, you have no idea if you'll end up in some hell world together or worse, he's even more terrible in that world.

Ra's said you'll only remember parts of the life you left behind, like a dream, what if the new Joker can't hold onto his love for you, what if--what if he kills you?

Then it'll be for nothing, you'll have lost your life here for nothing, with no way to come back" Ivy asks, and I swallow again, the lump growing in my throat.

"I'm not doing this for just him. I'm doing it for, Braeden," I answer and Ivy cocks his head in confusion and I feel a tear coming down my face.

"Braeden? What does he have to do with this?" he asks and I look down at Mr. J again, caressing his face and I try my hardest to hold back more tears, not wanting to cry anymore.

"I killed him, Ivy. I killed him and all he wanted to do was be with me. Mr. J tricked him and now he's dead because of me. Both of them are dead now, because of me. I wanted to die, Ivy, I was fully prepared to kill myself when Mr. J asked me to choose between you two.

That wasn't just because I loved you, it was also because...I wanted to die...I deserve to die for what I've done to him. At least this way, this way I fix it, this way they both get a second chance, a chance I took from them both, the three of us will be together, in some new world, where we just might be able to...survive," I say and Ivy looks at me, his face forlorn as Ra's looks at me raising an eyebrow.

"Can you do that, can get his soul too?" I ask.

"Has he been dead longer than seven days?" he asks. And I shake my head.

"Five, I think," I say, trying to remember that horrible night and Ra's nods,

"His soul hasn't moved on yet, I can still get him," Ra's answers and I nod, lying Joker's body down on the ground as I stand up, holding the Amulet as Ivy stands with me.

"What do you need for the curse?" I ask and Ra's just shakes his head presenting his hand and we step back hearing a whirring sound through the air as the athame landed in his hands.

"Just a blade and a body, the more powerful the curse, the more simple the ingredients are," he adds smiling,

"How long will it take to open a portal back to Gotham?" I ask and he shrugs, snapping his fingers as a yellow line of energy floats in the air, in the middle of the warehouse, and I raise my eyebrow questioning,

"I've been a practitioner for a few centuries, couple that with the boost from the red eclipse, a teleportation portal is parlor tricks to what I'm capable of now," he answers and I look to Ivy and smile,

"Can you restore his powers, Mr. J didn't say how long it would take before he'd get his powers back," I added and Ra's rolled his eyes, Ivy let go of my hand and Ra's snapped his fingers again and Ivy looked down as his skin started to fade back into its green shade and his hair returned to its bright red color and I smiled as he looked at me, flicking his hair from his face,

"You can go home Ivy, you can go back to Swamp Thing, back to the Green, back to Gotham, they're waiting for you. You deserve to be happy, and I've been holding you back from that, and I'm sorry.

I made you weak, but now, you can be strong, like you said, I'm the reason you're in this mess in the first place, now let me get you out," I offer and Ivy furrows his eyebrows, looking at me with a small smile and he turns to leave, I go back to Ra's and he begins,

"Now I need to know their first and last names to call for their--"

"I renounce my gifts, I renounce the Green, take back the power you've given me," I hear Ivy say and before I could turn to stop him, the room was overcome with a green light and as it dims, both Ra's and I watch Ivy fall to the ground next to the portal, and I rush over to him.

Amulet in hand, I watch his skin returns to its human shade and his hair reverts to brown but this time, the leaves fall from his body, and he lays their naked as his eyes return to their pale green shade, no longer glowing in his unnatural emerald shade.

"Ivy what the hell are you doing?!" I scream at him, holding onto him as he starts shaking,

"Staying in the mess," he says, shivering and I watch as his legs start to decay and I look to Ra's and yell at him, holding onto the Amulet,

"Fix him! Snap your fingers and fix it!"

"I can't. The Green is a primordial entity, she's beyond my power, the only reason I was able to fix him the first time was because he still belonged to her, his powers were just blocked by chemical inhibitors. He renounced her powers, and she took them back, not even I can undo that."

"What's happening to you? Are you trying to kill me, are you trying to twist the knife in deeper? " I ask him, fresh tears brimming from my eyes as I watched Sam start to fade in front of my eyes.

"The Green gave me a second chance at life, without her power, there's nothing keeping my body alive, I was on borrowed time anyway Harley," he says, as his legs start to turn to dust, working its way up to his torso.

"But...but what about when you switched powers with Frost, you didn't have your powers then, what was keeping you alive?" I asked, trying to make sense out of what was happening, why he was dying so quickly.

"Frost's powers sustained my body, the ice kept my body alive, without any power coursing through me, I'm human, and I'm a human who was already supposed to be dead. The Green chose to save me, she was the one who gave me a second chance.

She was the one who pulled me from the ground, and now, the Earth is collecting what it's owed...my life," he answers, shifting a little as his hands started to turn to dust as well and I just stared at him as he faded away.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I ask him, unable to contain the new wave of tears flowing from my eyes and he just smiles.

"So you couldn't say no when I asked to come with you. I cared about Nick, the Green too, but you're the only person I ever loved, Harley. The new kid with the bruised cheek, who ran into me in the hallway, I knew then that I'd fall for you.

I don't care where we end up, or what way we love each other, but I'll be damned if I live in a world where you're not in it," he says and at that last admission, he turned to dust before my eyes and I stood up, new purpose in my movements and I walked up to Ra's and yanked his robe so that he was closer to me and he looked at me,

"Samuel Isley, Jimmy Novak, and Adam Keen, that's their names now do it," I command and Ra's lifts and eyebrow and smirks, nodding. I let him go, as he lifts the athame in the air,

"Samuel Isley," he says and I watch as a swirl of white smoke lifted from the dust that was Sam's body, turning into a column of energy as it entered the tip of Ra's athame gleaming upon entry and glowing as the athame hummed with life,

"Jimmy Novak," Ra's says and I watch as Joker's body lifts up a little and his eyes and mouth shoot open as a white column of smoke flows from his eyes and mouth and into the tip of Ra's athame, and it hums again,

"Adam Keen," he says and I look around as I hear the warehouse walks start to shake as I looked at the skylight above and a stream of white smoke flowed from it crashing through the skylight and into the tip of Ra's athame and he directs me to lie down onto the ground.

I follow his direction and lay down on my back looking up at the shattered skylight and Ra's kneels before me, as I spread my arms out with the Amulet in hand and Ra's places his free hand on top of the amulet,

"And your real name?" he asks, and I take in a shaky breath,

"Hartley Quinzel," I answer and he smiles, holding the tip of the athame to my heart as I start to breathe easier, accepting whatever fate lies ahead for me and my family,

"Hartley Quinzel," he says as he shoves the athame directly in heart and I gasp out, the pain instant as he digs it deep through my flesh and he smiles, pulling the Amulet from my hand and holding it over the athame as he speaks, my eyes fluttering closed as I hear him speak the incantation,

 _"Carry on now, wayward souls._  
 _You are free, your lives are done._  
 _Let your weary souls take flight._  
 _Let them find a new home."_  
_________________________________________

Ra's snatches the bloodied athame from Harley's chest and looks to Harley's face and watches as his body jerks slightly, his eyes shot open for a moment, glossing white as the Hartley from the new world they switched with died, taking on the fate of the Hartley form this world.

He looked over to the Joker's body and watched it jerk, its eyes glossed over white, as well, the dust of Sam's body shifted white for a second.

Ra's closed his eyes to reach out and sensed that Adam's body had shifted to, signifying that the spell was a success, that they'd all switched souls with their counterparts in an alternate reality they ended up in. Ra's held up the Amulet and pulled the necklace over his neck, Ra's was a man of his word, after all, wherever they were, their souls were together, in a universe where the four of them are connected in some way.

He snapped his fingers closing the portal and snapped them a second time to revive his daughter, and she took in a sharp breath, her life renewed and stood up. The disorientation of being resurrected only effecting her slightly before she looked at her fully regenerated father and ran up and hugged him. He smiles, wrapping his arms around her,

"I told you, Talia, trust me and you'll never go wrong, death hurts, but only for a moment," he said, smiling as he wrapped his hands around his arms around his daughter. She pulled away from him and looked to the dead bodies before her and looked back at her father.

"The Curse of the Wayward Souls?" she asks, her father nods,

"What Earth do you think they ended up on?"

"No idea, their alternate selves have taken their fates here on our Earth, so wherever they are they've already slipped into their new lives. Harley's a smart one, not a bad fighter either," he laughs bitterly,

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually rooting for them. Maybe they got lucky, maybe they ended up somewhere nice."

"Maybe," she responds, holding onto her father's waist as she picks up the Book of Lazarus, and holds it close. Ra's snaps his fingers and the Pit vanishes, a large fire taking its place as it started burning down the warehouse and all the dead bodies within it.

Ra's and Talia Al Ghul take their leave, starting a new life of their own, metaphorically speaking. Her father was fully empowered and now completely impervious to death.

Whatever they did next, there wasn't a person on Earth that could stop them now.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Earth 48_ **

"Dean?" I hear Nick calling to me as I jerked my head, trying to gather my composure, and I look around the club as Sam and Adam stand across from me, the both of them shaking their heads too, suffering from the same lightheadedness as I was.

"You guys okay?" Nick asks, waving his hands in front of our faces and I clear my throat along with my brothers, and we all looked at each other, wondering what happened to us.

"Yeah, sorry Nick, I think we just kind of spaced out for a second, what were you saying?" I asked him, trying to figure out what had happened to the three of us.

We were just having a conversation and suddenly I just had this light-headed feeling and I could have sworn I saw Sam and Adam's eyes shimmer white, along with this weird seasick feeling, like when people get up too fast from bed.

I instinctively grabbed my chest, feeling a phantom pang of pain as I looked down at my shirt. I didn't know what I'd expected to see when I looked down but for some reason, I just felt like I should have been bleeding, but I pushed the feeling away as Sam, Adam, and I tried to focus on what Nick was saying,

"Okay, are you guys talking about me again? You promised you guys would stop doing that when I was around?" Nick whined a little before crossing his arms and Sam just smiled as he climbed onto Nick's back to which he reluctantly allowed, nuzzling his ears,

"We're not, Nick, I promised and you know I keep my promises," he smiled as he crossed his fingers behind his back to where only Adam and I could see and we sort of snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nick answered back, pulling Sam into his arms kissing him deeply. The two of them had been dating for a few months after they discovered that both of them had plant-based abilities.

Our mom was meta so we were born with our powers, like most of the Falcone family line, but Sam and Adam were the only ones who got nature-based powers.

Mine were mind-based, I held some telepathic abilities and insanity inducement, which allowed me to cause brain ruptures that can either cause insanity or brain hemorrhaging it was a nifty little skill in our trade.

Adam held some terrakinetic abilities, controlling rocks and earth and Sam was biokinetic, able to control plant life.

He and Nick met when Adam and Sam went on a hunt together, my two younger brothers being what the media described as eco-terrorists, destroying factories and big company conglomerates that posed a threat to nature.

Nick had been going after the same company that day and crossed paths, although when Nick used his powers it made him turn into a Swamp-like creature but once his human form was pretty decent looking.

Decent enough to catch Sam's attention and the two hit off fast, I just thanked God that Sam didn't turn green like Nick did when he used his powers, I couldn't imagine having a green little brother.

Although he did go through a phase when he was sixteen with dying his hair red and wearing nothing but green clothes once he'd discovered his powers. Adam and I used to tease him all the time trying to figure out what he was going to call himself for a while, calling him Poison Ivy and Red, he did not like that.

We weren't big on aliases in our family, after all, we were the Falcones, people pretty much knew our name already.

"I was saying that if Sam was done with the books so we could hurry up and make our flight? Paris isn't waiting forever?" he asks and Sam smiles, turning to Adam and me.

"You guys can handle the books while I'm gone right? I mean, I know I clearly got the smarts in the family, but I'm sure if you both put your heads together you could make one brain right?" he teases and both Adam and I flip him off.

"Fuck you, Sam!" I joke back.

"I think I'd much rather be doing that," Nick added, grabbing Sam's ass and he pushes him a little, laughing as both Adam and I dry heave at the thought of our brother having sex.

"Please guys, I just ate," Adam says, making a face, "the books will be fine Ivy, go have fun with your new man," he says, and Sam stares daggers at him,

"Ivy?" Nick asks, and Sam punches Adam in the shoulder and both of us start laughing,

"It's nothing Nick, just a childhood nickname that my brothers won't let me live down," he says through his teeth rolling his eyes at us.

He wraps his arms around Nick's neck and Nick lifts him up bridal style and Sam yelps in approval. He turns to us,

"Are you guys sure the club will be okay?" he asks again, still nervous and we both roll our eyes.

"The Winchester Club was standing when we bought it and it will still be standing when you get back, now go, have fun, or did you forget I'm the big brother here, if anyone should be this worried, it should be me," I say raising an eyebrow at him and he rolls his eyes and I see a look pass over his face and his face turns serious for a moment,

"Thank you, Dean," he says, and I look at him, cocking my head.

"Thanks for what?" I ask, and he shakes his head and just gives me a small smile,

"I don't know, just...thank you, I feel like...I feel whole for some reason, like...I'll never be alone again, because I have people who love me, I have you, Adam, Nick, Mom and Dad, I just...I feel so happy," he says.

The way he says it just makes me pause, that feeling of familiarity rising in my body, like, I was remembering a dream, but it was just out of reach, Adam and I both looked at Sam, a tear brimming in his eye and even Nick looked to make sure he was okay. I just smiled back,

"Well obviously, we're your family, it's our job to make you feel loved. Now, go! I think someone wants to love you in a whole new way, a way that'll have you walking funny for a while," I tease and before Sam could get another jab in, Nick had already started walking towards the door.

I smiled watching the two of them, happy that Sam had finally found a guy that he could trust, he'd been through a lot of bad relationships in the past, but this one...I liked Nick and better than that, I liked Nick for him.

I turned back to Adam who was slurping on a martini as I started wiping down the counter and he rolled his eyes at me,

"You know, we pay people to do that Dean," he says and I look to him and shrug my shoulders.

"I know, I was just--"

"You were just trying to distract yourself from what's really bothering you," he says, seeing through my facade easily and I put the rag to the side and cross my arms leaning back onto the bar.

"Is this about my nephew?" he asks and I nod and he shakes his head,

"Sam and I have already told you dozens of times, this procedure was the first of its kind. Lisa may have carried him to term but he only carries you and Cas's DNA, he's bound to start showing some signs soon. Just give it some time," he reassures me, and I let out a shaky breath.

"I know, I know, it's just he just turned six and he isn't, well he isn't like us, you know, and in our business, he's got to be strong. I'm just nervous that maybe Lisa's DNA might of, you know, messed something up?" I ask.

"It didn't, she just carried him, that's all, the science was near perfect, he's you and Cas's son alone, she has no biological connection to him.

We didn't even need her eggs, just give it some time and stop worrying so much, when he's ready it will happen, and you can't rush it no matter how much you may want to help it along," he says, raising an eyebrow and I hold up my hands.

"I would never do that, besides it would be too dangerous anyway," I take in a deep breath and calm myself,

"I just want what's best for him, and if it's not our life, then so be it, I love him just the same."

Adam smiles and pushes me on the shoulder, proud and I laugh,

"You're sounding like dad," he says, laughing and I make a face,

"Oh god, kill me now," I joke back and he smiles and he turns to see the man enter the club, taking off his mask sack and smiles as he makes eye contact with Adam who he waves at, and starts walking over to,

"Johnathan's here, I gotta go, he just got back from Jersey, had to kill some guy for threatening to evict his sister, guess who's got a dick appointment tonight," he wiggles in his seat excitedly as he sips up the rest of his martini,

"He gets so riled up when he hasn't seen me in a while, I need to go relieve my man."

I smile, Adam and Johnathan Crane had just got engaged last week, and I couldn't be happier. He was my baby brother and I was pleased to see him and Sam doing so well. Now that Sam and Nick were getting serious, it shouldn't be long before he was walking down the aisle too.

Before Adam got up though, I grabbed his arm and he turned around and looked at me.

"Hey, Adam...I just wanted to say I'm sorry," I say, the words coming out before I could even comprehend why I said them, he looked at me, a look of recognition passed over his face as well and he blinked really hard and shook his head,

"Uh, thanks, why are you apologizing?" he asks and I let his arm go and try to remember what I did to him, why I felt this knot of guilt in my stomach, but I couldn't place where or why it was there.

"I don't know, I just felt like I should apologize," I respond, and he just looks at me, and blinks again, no doubt trying to remember what I did too,

"Well...I forgive you, I guess," he says, laughing a little, as he grunts a little, putting his hand to his chest and suddenly a thought passes in my head, a flash of a dream, someone stabbed my brother.

I shook my head and the horrible image subsided, but the feeling of guilt, that was still present and I looked into Adam's eyes and he just smiled,

"I forgive you, Dean, I don't know why but hearing you say that it feels good for some reason, I don't even know what you did," he says, laughing bitterly, neither of us understanding why I was apologizing and why he felt like he needed to hear it,

"We're happy Dean. So whatever you did, it's in the past, and honestly, I don't want to remember it." 

He says and at that moment the guilt faded and I watched as Johnathan embraced Adam, kissing him with fire and passion, so much so that I was starting to get really uncomfortable watching my brother be kissed on so heavily.

"I think I'm gonna head home, Adam, you and Johnathan look like you've got some catching up to do," I say, walking from behind the bar and between kisses Adam answered me back,

"Hey, tell Ben," he starts, Johnathan kisses him again,

"That Uncle Adam loves him, okay, stop it, oh and tell Dad I said I'll be by to see him and mom tomorrow morning, stop it," he laughs as Johnathan starts kissing him on the neck and I chuckle as I start to walk out of the club,

"Alright, I'll pass on the message," I answer, making my way to the car waiting for me outside and the driver opens the door,

"Good evening, Mr. Falcone," he says and I nod to him,

"Mr. Falcone's my dad, Hugo, it's just Dean," I say, and he nods, opening the door for me as I get inside. We drive a few blocks down the road to my flat, Hugo opens up the door for me and I step outside,

"Mr. Maroni called and told me that he'd be on his way home in a few minutes," he says.

I nod, walking up the stairs of my flat, the door being opened up by one of our maids and I saw my dad sitting at the chair reading a book, having a glass of scotch while he smoked his cigar,

"Dad, we've talked about you smoking in the house," I say, rolling my eyes and my dad jumps out of the seat surprised, putting out the cigar quickly as he came up to give me a hug, I hugged him back, still annoyed,

"Sorry, I was just relaxing a little, I'm too old to be running after that little boy upstairs, I was glad Oswald came by for his tutoring session or I wouldn't know what to do with myself, that boy is a ball of energy," he said, laughing a little and smiling at him,

"That's Ben for you, he gets that from Cas, I swear that man can never stay still for too long, he's got to always be doing something. Oh and Adam said he'll be coming by to see you and mom tomorrow morning, but Johnathan came back tonight so he'll be busy," I say and my father just shakes his head and laughs a little,

"I swear that man can't keep his hands off my son, but with a strong name like John, he's starting to grow on me," he says, puffing out his chest a little,

"Oh, the great John Falcone likes someone with the same first name, big surprise there," I joke with him and he smiles at me, rolling his eyes and I see him look at me as he shakes his head a smirk on his face,

"You know Dean, I'm so proud of you," he says, and I roll my eyes,

"Oh, dad, come on not this again," I say, and even though I was pretending to be annoyed, part of me wanted to hear him keep going.

"No I mean it, you saved Gotham," he starts and I just shake my head,

"Dad, I just married the man I loved, I didn't do it for the family," I joke back and he just grabs be into another bear hug,

"I know, I know, and your mother and I couldn't be more happy for you. When you and your brothers came out, we were petrified, we were going to love and accept you regardless but it was the rest of the world that we were afraid of.

We thought that you all being gay would hinder you from gaining the respect you deserved, but it turns out it was the greatest blessing our family could ever hope for.

You and Castiel Maroni getting married joined our families together and created the criminal empire that we have in Gotham.

After Don Maroni and I joined forces after the wedding, taking down Batman was a piece of cake, no heroes dare oppose us, and Gotham belongs to us, we are stronger than we've ever been before and that's thanks to you," he said, and I could feel him starting to tear up and I patted his back as he pulled away from me.

I know he's said this a million times before, I practically heard it every time he babysat Ben, but for some reason this time, it felt different. This time, it felt strange, because part of me felt like I'd never heard this from my dad before, and hearing it now, almost moved me to tears too.

And I just looked at him, smiling,

"Thanks, Dad," I say and he smiles,

"I love you so much, Dean, now let me go before I start blubbering, can't have the great John Falcone seen crying now can I?" he says as bites back the tears, clearing his throat as he pats me on the back and walks to the front, the maid opening the door and closing it behind him.

My dad put up a persona around his men and subordinates of being this powerful, scary man, but behind closed doors, when he was around my mom and his sons or his grandson, he was a big softy. I smiled as I walked up the stairs, and I called out for my son,

"Ben!" I heard no response, and my heart rate started to pick up a little,

"Ben! Do you hear me?!" I call again, nothing. Now I was scared, I walked up to his room and noticed that there was small traces puddle of blood coming from his room door, and I tried to open it but I couldn't get in.

I quickly ran through to the adjoining bathroom, my heart in my stomach as I opened the door,

"Hi daddy!" he says as he calls after me, sitting on the floor, drawing in Oswald's blood, taking his headphones out, pausing the screen playing Bubble Guppies on the screen, his bloody fingerprint staining the IPad.

I looked and saw Oswald whimpering on the door, two pencils shoved in his hands, nailing him to the door and two at his feet, filling the floor that Ben was playing in, I looked to Ben, watching as he tried to draw an image of a bird,

"Ben, what did you do?" I asked him, my voice a whisper and he smiled broadly, and I walked over to him,

"I saw his phone daddy, he was saying mean things about you and dad, calling you bad words, and it made me so angry daddy, that I wished so hard for him to fly across the room like a plane and hit the door," he says, smiling and then he continues to draw,

"Then I wished for him not to scream and a sock from my hamper went into his mouth, choking him until he couldn't yell anymore, and then I wished for him to stop trying to move and my pencils flew into his hands and legs, and now, I'm trying to draw a penguin."

I step over to him, looking at my son, and I look to Oswald, who's whimpering as he looks at me fearfully, looking for mercy,

"You didn't kill him?" I ask and Ben shakes his head as he looks at another pencil and it lifts into the air looks to Oswald's arm and it pushes itself into Oswald's arm, the blood still streaming down the door and Ben claps,

"I love the sounds he makes, daddy, he sounds like it hurts real bad. I tried really hard to keep watching tv so I didn't kill him before you got home.

I wanted you to kill him, daddy, cause he was texting bad things about you," he smiles at me and continues to draw and I walk over to Oswald looking him in the eyes and I can hear him begging behind the sock in his mouth and I smile,

"How thoughtful," I say turning to Ben who smiles at me, and I look back at Oswald, and place a hand on his face as he starts to cry, and force him to look at my son playing in his blood, the little dirty blonde-haired blue-eyed boy having so much fun doing his two favorite things, watching his favorite show and drawing.

I was so worried he'd turn out normal, that's why I was so anxious at the club, Cas and I had been watching him since he'd been born, no dead animals, no violent outbursts, nothing.

We'd thought that if psychopathy ran in both his and my family, that little Ben was definitely going to inherit it too, but without any of the signs showing themselves we were giving up hope, that is, until right now. He was coming along just fine, that's what Sam and Adam kept assuring me and they were right.

Everyone kept telling us to just be patient and let him show us who he was and now that he did and I couldn't be more proud,

"Isn't he just the most adorable thing you ever did see?" I ask before looking into Oswald's eyes, digging my fingers into his face and watching as the veins on his face turn black as he starts to shake his and watch as he starts to shake.

He slams his head back against the door, over and over again and I hold on tighter, as the blood starts to flow from his nose, his brain hemorrhaging blood and soon he's dead and I smile, removing my hand and walking over to my son,

"You know you scared daddy when he walked up to the door and saw blood, I thought something terrible had happened to you," I say to him, sitting beside him and he looks at me, his eyes full of shame,

"I'm sorry daddy, I didn't mean to scare you, I just forgot I had my headphones in, please don't be mad at me," he says and I pull him into my arms in a hug, squeezing his face a little to make him laugh,

"How could anyone stay mad at this face, but dad might be a little hurt that you got your pajamas all messy with blood, he just bought them for you for your birthday yesterday," I say and he looks down at his pajamas and all the blood covering them.

"I didn't know it could be so messy, I was just having so much fun," he says and he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes and my heart was melting.

"It's okay, go on and put on your old pajama bottoms and shirt and hide the new ones in the bin, I'll go buy the same one tomorrow, dad will never know," I say and Ben wraps his arms around my neck, hugging me tightly,

"Thank you, daddy, thank you!" he says as he quickly gets up and takes off his pajamas, hiding them in his dirty clothes bin and puts on his old ones.

I smile as I turn to look at Oswald's dead body and shake my head,

"Guess we're going to need a new tutor," I say, getting up from the floor, and Cas walks in through the bathroom, a smile on his face. He was truly stunning, his piercing blue eyes, tan skin, and brown hair.

Every time I saw him it was like the first time, he'd often say that we were meant for each other because when he first met me he had the corniest pick up line I'd ever heard, _those green eyes, and dirty blonde hair, definitely gave me a reason stare._

He was wearing a green tie-dyed shirt that had the words, "Jokester" on it, a nickname he got from his friends. He wore that with some acid wash blue jeans and black Timberland boots. His friends convinced him to finally come up and ask me out, apparently he'd had a crush on me for a while.

So he came with that line and a lopsided smile because he was so nervous to talk to me, I couldn't help but smile at him, because he was just so damn cute. Little did we know that'd be the start of rest of our lives.

That was almost nine years ago and yet, somehow, it felt like that memory was so new.

"Hey, hey, what's going on in here?" he asks and Ben runs over to jump into his arms and Cas pulls him up, smiling broadly, put my hands on my waist watching them, my heart leaping with joy,

"Dad! You're back from work?! How was your day?!" he asks and Cas just smiles, holding onto him,

"You know, same ole same ole, torture here, kill a snitch there, just boring grown-up stuff," he answers, looking over to Oswald's dead body,

"What happened here?"

"Our son almost gave me a heart attack, he needs to remember not to have those headphones on so loud," I say and Ben lowers his head.

"Hey, what did we say about being too quiet," Cas starts,

"Only when there are witnesses that can hear you," they said together in unison. He sets Ben down and walks over to Oswald's body,

"You did this all by yourself, little man?" he asks and Ben nods, proudly, and I smile along with Cas,

"Yep! And I let daddy kill him because he was being a meanie," he says, and Cas smiles, catching Ben and starting to tickle him and Ben's laughing,

"You're trying to keep dad's cleaners busy aren't you? Aren't you?" he asks and Ben can't contain his laughter as he's trying to escape from Cas's tickling,

"Stop dad, I can't breathe," he says, through his chuckles and Cas smushes his face with a kiss and Ben pushes him away,

"Dad!" he says, pretending to be annoyed and Cas puts him down, and smiles at him,

"Your father and I are so proud of you, guess who just earned himself a big ice cream sundae for dessert!" Cas asks and Ben's face lights up.

"With extra, extra chocolate sauce?" he asks, and Cas nods,

"As much chocolate sauce as you want," Cas answers, and Ben is giddy,

"Go on an ask Ms. Lexi to make you some, she's still in the kitchen, daddy and I will be down in a few minutes okay,"

"Okay dad," he says, running down to the kitchen,

"Don't run" I yell after him and he slows down and before I could go down after him Cas grabs me by my waist and pulls me to him and I laugh a little, as he starts kissing me on my neck and I turned around to face him,

"What was that all about?" I ask and he smiles at me, and his smile wavers for a moment,

"I don't know, I was on my way here and I got really dizzy all of a sudden, I had to pull over to the side of the road for a moment to breathe through it.

I blinked really hard and I was okay, but something felt...different, I felt different...I felt like I lost you, like I...I can't even explain it but...I left like I was gone and then...then I wasn't," he admits and I look in his eyes, confused,

"You could never lose me Cas, you married me, you're sort of stuck with me, 'till death do us part' remember?" I say laughing and he pulls me close to him, and I look him in the eyes and I see that he looks a little afraid and I bring my hand up to his face and he looks at me,

"I keep thinking about it, it felt like I was remembering a dream I had, I don't remember when it was, but when I got dizzy in the car, I sort of saw pieces of it.

I dreamt...I dreamt that I hurt you, that I broke your heart, that...that I wasn't going to get the chance to apologize."

"Cas it's fine, it was just a dream, I know you'd never--" I start.

"No, just listen to me," he says, and I stop and look at him, listening to his words,

"I would never hurt you, ever. Not you or Ben. I'd rather kill myself than hurt either one of you, in any way. You two are the most important people in my life. I'd move mountains to make you two happy because I love you with all my heart and soul.

I just want to make sure you know that because I want to spend the rest of my life constantly reminding you how happy you and that kid make me. I love you, Dean Falcone, I love you with all I've got," he admits and his statement brings tears to my eyes.

It's like it's the first time I'd heard him say it, and my heart was jumping in circles, what I was feeling was beyond happiness, it was a total joy and absolute joy.

I kissed him and Cas kissed me back. We held each other for a few moments, kissing each other like this was the first time that we've been together, truly together, when I knew that wasn't true.

We'd been married for four years now, but it just...it felt different, it felt like this was all so new and so different. We finally pulled away from each other.

"Must have been some dream huh?" I say and he laughs a little and I pull his face to me, looking him deep in the eyes,

"I love you too, Castiel Maroni, with all I've got," I said and he smiled back at he and I walked to the door and Cas looked back at Oswald and he laughed a little,

"What?" I ask, smiling.

"I never really liked him anyway," he said and I started laughing with him as we walked down the stairs to meet our son in the kitchen.

Part of me wondered momentarily why Adam, Sam, Cas, and I all had this strange feeling of dizziness, why we'd all seemed to have a dream in our memories that we couldn't seem to place, or why we'd had these strange feelings but it didn't matter anymore.

None of us wanted to remember a dream of that felt more like a nightmare, and none of us really cared enough to try and find an explanation. So as we walked down those stairs, as I walked in the arms of the man I loved to see the son that our love created, I let that nightmare fade from my mind entirely.

Because whatever that nightmare was, it was in the past, and as one of the greats said, one does not dwell in the past, one does not dream of the future, but instead, one must concentrate the mind on the present moment. So nightmares must be left behind.

Because now, as I walked down the stairs, to see our son, with my husband in arm, the only thing that mattered...was the present and the bright future we had with our son. We were a family...and that's all I'd ever wanted.

**The End**


End file.
